EP3509285B1 - Verfahren, vorrichtungen und systeme zur detektion von druckdefekten und verunreinigten komponenten eines druckers - Google Patents

Verfahren, vorrichtungen und systeme zur detektion von druckdefekten und verunreinigten komponenten eines druckers Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3509285B1
EP3509285B1 EP19150493.5A EP19150493A EP3509285B1 EP 3509285 B1 EP3509285 B1 EP 3509285B1 EP 19150493 A EP19150493 A EP 19150493A EP 3509285 B1 EP3509285 B1 EP 3509285B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
test pattern
optical system
printed
image
srp
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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EP19150493.5A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP3509285A1 (de
Inventor
H. Sprague Ackley
Si Qian
Thomas Axel Jonas CELINDER
Sebastien D'ARMANCOUT
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Datamax ONeil Corp
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Datamax ONeil Corp
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Publication date
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Priority to EP23163411.4A priority Critical patent/EP4221177A1/de
Publication of EP3509285A1 publication Critical patent/EP3509285A1/de
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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
    • G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
    • G06K7/10544—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum
    • G06K7/10554—Moving beam scanning
    • G06K7/10594—Beam path
    • G06K7/10603—Basic scanning using moving elements
    • G06K7/10673—Parallel lines
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K5/00—Methods or arrangements for verifying the correctness of markings on a record carrier; Column detection devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
    • G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
    • G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
    • G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
    • G06K7/10544—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum
    • G06K7/10821—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum further details of bar or optical code scanning devices
    • G06K7/10851—Circuits for pulse shaping, amplifying, eliminating noise signals, checking the function of the sensing device
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
    • G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
    • G06K7/14—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00002—Diagnosis, testing or measuring; Detecting, analysing or monitoring not otherwise provided for
    • H04N1/00026—Methods therefor
    • H04N1/00045—Methods therefor using a reference pattern designed for the purpose, e.g. a test chart
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00326—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus
    • H04N1/00328—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus with an apparatus processing optically-read information
    • H04N1/00334—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus with an apparatus processing optically-read information with an apparatus processing barcodes or the like
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/0035—User-machine interface; Control console
    • H04N1/00352—Input means
    • H04N1/00355—Mark-sheet input
    • H04N1/00358—Type of the scanned marks
    • H04N1/00363—Bar codes or the like
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
    • H04N1/0402—Scanning different formats; Scanning with different densities of dots per unit length, e.g. different numbers of dots per inch (dpi); Conversion of scanning standards

Definitions

  • Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to printers and, more particularly, to systems and methods for characterizing an optical system such as, but not limited to, a verifier adapted to perform print image verification and print quality control for printers.
  • hardcopy printed media printing onto tangible sheets ofpaper or labels
  • Hardcopy printing may be accomplished via multiple types of devices, including thermal printers, label printers, inkjet printers, and laser printers.
  • thermal printers label printers
  • inkjet printers inkjet printers
  • laser printers for all hardcopy media and printing methods, an important objective is a high level of visual clarity of the final printed output.
  • visual clarity ensures the document is both readable and aesthetically appealing.
  • Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems associated with conventional printers. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present disclosure, many examples of which are described in detail herein.
  • US 5 914 474 discloses the calibration of the aperture of a bar code scanner, using the ordinary elements of the bar code as reference.
  • Various example embodiments described herein relate to a system for calculating and calibrating an effective aperture size of an optical sensor, according to claim 1.
  • the reference graph further indicates one or more of reference element-reflectance values from the one or more of reference optical sensors.
  • the one or more of reference element-reflectance values are being calculated with respect to the at least one test element of the test pattern.
  • the system further includes a printer, where the optical sensor and the processor are integrated parts of the printer.
  • the printer is configured to (a) print a first test pattern comprising bars and spaces of defined specifications; (b) scan the first test pattern; (c) analyze the scanned first test pattern to validate the scanned first test pattern according to a pre-defined acceptance criterion; (d) record thermal management settings of the printer based on the validation of the first test pattern; (e) print a second test pattern at the recorded thermal management settings; and (d) calibrate the optical sensor using the effective aperture size of the optical sensor determined based on analyzing the second test pattern.
  • the printer is configured to: (f) generate a SRP of the first test pattern; (g) measure a narrow element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the narrow elements in the SRP; (h) measure a wide element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the wide elements in the SRP; (i) compare the narrow element center position with the wide element center position; and (k) in response to determining that the narrow element center position is equal to the wide element center position, validate the scanned first test pattern.
  • the printer is further configured to: (1) determine a first width of at least one space in the first test pattern; (m) determine a second width of at least one bar in the first test pattern; and (n) compare the first width with the second width to validate the first test pattern according to the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the printer is configured to: (o) calculate a threshold value indicative of a median SRP value in a SRP of the first test pattern; (p) identify a first set of pixels corresponding to at least one space in the first test pattern where a first corresponding SRP value is less than the threshold value; (q) identify a second set of pixels corresponding to at least one bar in the first test pattern where a second corresponding SRP value is greater than the threshold value; and (r) compare a first count of the first set of pixels and a second count of the second set of pixels to validate the first test pattern.
  • the processor is configured to receive a reference table indicating a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical sensor and a plurality of corresponding resolutions of the plurality of aperture sizes.
  • the processor is further configured to receive characteristics data of at least one indicia of an image to be printed on a print media.
  • the characteristics data includes at least a size of the at least one indicia.
  • the processor is configured to determine an applicable aperture size of the optical sensor based on the reference table and the characteristics data.
  • the processor is further configured to receive characteristics data of at least one indicia of an image to be printed on a print media. Further, the processor is configured to identify a first region and a second region of the image based on the characteristics data and scan the first region in a printed image at a first resolution and the second region in the printed image at a second resolution different from the first resolution.
  • Some example embodiments described herein relate to a computer-implemented method for calculating and calibrating an effective aperture size of an optical system, according to claim 8.
  • the computer-implemented method further includes, printing a first test pattern comprising bars and spaces of defined specifications and scanning the first test pattern.
  • the computer-implemented method further includes, analyzing the scanned first test pattern to validate the scanned first test pattern according to a pre-defined acceptance criterion and recording thermal management settings of the printer based on the validation of the first test pattern.
  • the computer implemented method includes, printing a second test pattern at the recorded thermal management settings and calibrating the optical system using the effective aperture size of the optical system determined based on analyzing the second test pattern.
  • the computer-implemented method includes, receiving a reference table indicating a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system and a plurality of corresponding resolutions of the plurality of aperture sizes.
  • the computer-implemented method includes, receiving characteristics data of at least one indicia of an image to be printed on a print media.
  • the characteristics data comprises at least a size of the at least one indicia.
  • the computer-implemented method further includes, determining an applicable aperture size of the optical system based on the reference table and the characteristics data.
  • the computer-implemented method includes, receiving characteristics data of at least one indicia of an image to be printed on a print media and identifying a first region and a second region of the image based on the characteristics data.
  • the computer-implemented method further includes scanning the first region in a printed image at a first resolution and the second region in the printed image at a second resolution different from the first resolution.
  • the computer-implemented method also includes, selecting a first effective aperture size and a second effective aperture size for scanning the first region and the second region ofthe image based on a reference table.
  • the reference table referred herein includes a plurality of aperture sizes and a plurality of resolutions corresponding to the plurality of aperture sizes.
  • the present disclosure includes systems and methods for testing a barcode verifier to characterize an optical system of the barcode verifier. More specifically, in some examples, characterizing the optical system may include determining an effective aperture size of the optical system.
  • a method for characterizing an optical system may include a step of scanning a test pattern using an optical system to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP).
  • This test pattern may comprise at least a test element.
  • the method may also include calculating an element-reflectance value from the SRP.
  • the element-reflectance value may be calculated with respect to information in the SRP related to the scanned test element.
  • the method also includes the step of utilizing a reference graph to interpolate an effective aperture size of the optical system to be tested, where the effective aperture size corresponds in the reference graph to the element-reflectance value.
  • a system for characterizing an optical system comprises a scannable test pattern having a plurality of linear bars and a test bar having a width that is narrower than each of the plurality of linear bars.
  • the system also includes an optical sensor configured to scan the scannable test pattern to obtain an SRP.
  • a processor is configured to calculate an element-reflectance value from information in the SRP related to the scanned test bar.
  • the system also includes a reference graph having a curve that correlates aperture dimensions to element-reflectance values.
  • the processor is further configured to interpolate an effective aperture dimension of the optical sensor from the reference graph based on the calculated element-reflectance value.
  • a method for creating a reference graph to be used for characterizing an optical system.
  • the method may include a step of creating a test pattern that has a test element and a plurality of bars and spaces.
  • the width of the test element is configured to be narrower than the width of each of the plurality of bars and spaces.
  • the method also includes the step of using a plurality of reference optical sensors having different known aperture sizes to scan the test pattern to obtain an SRP for each reference optical sensor.
  • An element-reflectance value is calculated from each SRP, where each element-reflectance value is calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • the method includes creating a reference graph by plotting a curve showing a relationship between element-reflectance values versus known aperture sizes of the reference optical sensors. An effective aperture size of an optical system to be tested can be determined using the reference graph.
  • the present disclosure includes the concept of testing optical systems, particularly those optical systems that may be used for barcode verification.
  • One such optical system is a CIS used in a barcode verification device.
  • the systems and methods described herein can be used to characterize an optical system in order to determine an effective aperture size of the optical system.
  • the effective aperture size may be based on the effective width of each sensor, which is related to the number of sensors per inch.
  • the effective aperture size may be based on the distance between the sensor and a printed barcode.
  • the process of scanning a barcode may include shining a laser beam on the barcode and detecting the light reflected off the barcode.
  • Example embodiments of the present disclosure also includes a device that is capable of performing the two functions of printing barcodes and verifying the printed barcodes.
  • This integrated printer/verifier device allows the printing and verifying to be performed in a single device.
  • the integrated printer/verifier device may include a CIS or other type of linear sensor array that uses the motion of the print medium as it is being transported through the device to generate a two-dimensional grayscale image of the barcode.
  • the grayscale image can then be analyzed to determine the print quality of the barcode according to ANSI X3.182 and ISO/IEC 15416 standards or other barcode verification standards that may be established in the future.
  • the effective aperture size may be calculated and then reported according to the verification standards.
  • a verifier device may have an effective aperture size that differs slightly from the actual physical dimensions of the optical system.
  • an effective aperture dimension of the optical system of a barcode verification device By calculating the effective aperture dimension according to the teachings disclosed herein, this value can be advertised as a certifiable parameter for stand-alone verification devices and/or integrated printer/verifier devices.
  • the method of calculating the effective aperture size according to the teachings disclosed herein can also be used to determine if other verifying devices comply with the barcode verification standards.
  • Barcodes may be printed onto any suitable type of print medium.
  • a printer or printer/verifier
  • the labels can be fed from a roll or other feed mechanisms to the printing mechanism of the label printing device.
  • a method of characterizing an optical system of a printer includes accessing, by a processing unit, information associated with an image to be printed on a print media.
  • the method includes determining characteristics of at least one indicia in the image.
  • the characteristics comprises at least a size of the at least one indicia.
  • the method further includes computing, based on the determination of the characteristics, an effective aperture size and an effective resolution corresponding to the effective aperture size, at which the optical system is to be characterized for scanning the at least one indicia printed on the print media.
  • the accessing of the information includes accessing an image buffer in a memory of the printer, the image buffer including the information comprising the image to be printed by the printer.
  • the characteristics determined includes at least one of, a type of the at least one indicia, a size of the at least one indicia, size of one or more narrow elements and wide elements in a pattern to be scanned by the optical system, and characteristics defined in application standard defining a print quality.
  • the computing of the effective aperture size and the effective resolution is based on accessing a reference table.
  • the reference table includes a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system and a plurality of resolutions applicable for the plurality of the aperture size respectively.
  • the computing of the effective aperture size is based on selecting in the reference table, an aperture size, from amongst the plurality of aperture sizes, that is relatively closest to a desired aperture size for scanning the indicia by the optical system.
  • the computing of the effective aperture size is based on selecting in the reference table, a resolution from amongst the plurality of resolution that is applicable according to the computed effective aperture size for scanning the indicia by the optical system.
  • the computing of the effective aperture size and the effective resolution is based on interpolating a value of the effective aperture size and the effective resolution respectively, using values corresponding to the plurality of the aperture sizes and the plurality of resolutions in the reference table.
  • the reference table used for computing the effective aperture size and the effective resolution is created based on a reference graph by (a) scanning, by the optical system, a test pattern to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP), the test pattern comprising at least a test element, (b) calculating an element-reflectance value from the SRP, the element-reflectance value being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element, and (c) utilizing the reference graph to interpolate an ideal aperture size of the optical system to be tested, the ideal aperture size corresponding to the element-reflectance value.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the reference graph is created by using known optical systems to scan the test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system, each known optical system having a known aperture diameter that is different from the aperture diameters of the other known optical systems.
  • the method further comprises calculating a reference element-reflectance value from the reference SRPs for each known optical system, the reference element-reflectance values being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • Some example embodiments described herein relate to a method for characterizing an optical system of a printer.
  • the method includes accessing, by a processing unit, a reference table comprising a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system and a plurality of resolutions corresponding to the plurality of aperture sizes respectively.
  • the method further includes accessing, by the processing unit, information from an image buffer in a memory of the printer, the information comprising at least one image to be printed on a print media and identifying, by the processing unit, at least one indicia based on the information comprising the at least one image.
  • the method further includes determining, by the processing unit, characteristics of the at least one indicia, where the characteristics includes at least one of, a size of the at least one indicia identified in the at least one image and a measurement aperture size defined in an application specification defining a print quality. Further the method includes, computing, by the processing unit, based on the determined characteristics of the at least one indicia, an effective aperture size and an effective resolution corresponding to the effective aperture size, using the reference table accessed by the processing unit; and characterizing, the optical system based on the effective aperture size and the effective resolution for scanning the at least one image printed on the print media by the printer.
  • the optical system is characterized before scanning the at least one image based on the information accessed from the image buffer, the information including the at least one image that is to be printed next by the printer and scanned by the optical system.
  • the reference table used for computing the effective aperture size and the effective resolution is created based on a reference graph by scanning, by the optical system, a test pattern to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP), the test pattern comprising at least a test element; and calculating an element-reflectance value from the SRP, the element-reflectance value being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element; and utilizing the reference graph to interpolate an ideal aperture size of the optical system to be tested, the ideal aperture size corresponding to the element-reflectance value.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the reference graph is created by using known optical systems to scan the test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system, each known optical system having a known aperture diameter that is different from the aperture diameters of the other known optical systems.
  • the reference element-reflectance values being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • the image includes a plurality of indicia.
  • the method includes identifying at least, a first indicia and a second indicia in the at least one image that is to be printed on the print media and determining a first size of the first indicia and a second size of the second indicia based on processing of the at least one image.
  • the method further includes computing, based on the determination of the first size of the first indicia, a first aperture size and a first resolution at which the optical system is to be characterized for scanning the first indicia and computing, based on the determination of the second size of the second indicia, a second aperture size and a second resolution at which the optical system is to be characterized for scanning the first indicia.
  • the method further includes characterizing the optical system to scan the print media upon printing the at least one image so that the optical system scans the first indicia on the print media based on the computed first aperture size and first resolution and scans the second indicia on the print media based on the computed second aperture size and the second resolution.
  • the optical system includes an optical sensor adapted to scan an indicia on a print media.
  • the optical system also includes a processing unit communicatively coupled to the optical sensor.
  • the processing unit adapted to, (a) access, information associated with an image to be printed on the print media; (b) determine characteristics of at least one indicia in the image, where the characteristics comprises at least a size of the at least one indicia; and (c) compute, based on the determination of the characteristics, an effective aperture size and an effective resolution corresponding to the effective aperture size, at which the optical system is to be characterized for scanning the at least one indicia printed on the print media.
  • the processing unit of the optical system is adapted to access an image buffer in a memory of a printer, the image buffer including the information comprising the image to be printed by the printer.
  • the processing unit is adapted to compute the effective aperture size and the effective resolution based on accessing a reference table comprising a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system and a plurality of resolutions applicable for the plurality of the aperture size respectively.
  • the reference table is created based on a reference graph computed by the processing unit.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) scan, a test pattern to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP), the test pattern comprising at least a test element; (ii) calculate an element-reflectance value from the SRP, the element-reflectance value being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element; and (iii) utilize the reference graph to interpolate an ideal aperture size of the optical system to be tested, the ideal aperture size corresponding to the element-reflectance value.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the reference graph is created by using known optical systems to scan the test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system, each known optical system having a known aperture diameter that is different from the aperture diameters of the other known optical systems and calculating a reference element-reflectance value from the reference SRPs for each known optical system, the reference element-reflectance values being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • a printing system in some example embodiments, includes a printer subsystem having a printing processing unit and a memory including an image buffer adapted to store at least one image to be printed by the printer subsystem.
  • the printing system further includes an optical system communicatively coupled to the printer subsystem.
  • the optical system includes an optical sensor adapted to scan an indicia printed by the printer subsystem on a print media and a processing unit communicatively coupled to the optical sensor.
  • the processing unit referred herein is adapted to: (a) access, from the memory of the printer subsystem, an information associated with the at least one image to be printed on the print media; (b) determine, based on the information, characteristics of at least one indicia in the at least one image, where the characteristics comprises at least, a size of the at least one indicia; and (c) compute, based on the determination of the characteristics, an effective aperture size and an effective resolution corresponding to the effective aperture size, at which the optical system is to be characterized for scanning the at least one indicia printed on the print media.
  • the memory of the printing subsystem comprises a reference table having a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system and a plurality of resolutions applicable for the plurality of the aperture size respectively.
  • the processing unit is adapted to compute the effective aperture size and the effective resolution based on accessing the reference table.
  • a method of calibrating an optical system includes (a) printing, by a printer, a pattern comprising a plurality of spaces and a plurality of bars of a defined specification; (b) scanning, by the optical system, the printed pattern; (c) analyzing, by a processing unit, the scanned pattern to validate the printed pattern to meet a pre-defined acceptance criterion; (d) recording, based on the validation of the printed pattern, thermal management settings of the printer; (e) printing, by the printer, a scannable test pattern at the recorded thermal management settings; and (f) calibrating, the optical system using an effective aperture size of the optical system determined based on analyzing the scannable test pattern.
  • the method further includes: (i) adjusting thermal management settings of the printer and (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeating steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • analyzing the scanned pattern includes analyzing a scanned reflectance profile (SRP) of the scanned pattern to meet the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • SRP scanned reflectance profile
  • the analyzing of the scanned pattern further includes: (i) accessing, a SRP of the scanned pattern; (ii) measuring a narrow element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the narrow elements in the pattern sensed by the optical system; (iii) measuring a wide element center position indicative of median reflectance value of wide elements in the pattern; (iv) comparing the narrow element center position with the wide element center position; and (v) validating the printed pattern, in an instance, where based on the comparison, the narrow element center position is equal to the wide element center position.
  • the method further includes: (i) adjusting the thermal management settings of the printer and (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeating steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the method further includes (i) in instance, where the narrow element center position is less than the wide element center position, adjusting the thermal management settings of the printer by decreasing heat settings associated with a print head of the printer; and (ii) in instance, where the narrow element center position is greater than the wide element center position, increasing heat settings associated with the print head of the printer.
  • the optical system is a barcode verifier and the optical system comprises at least one optical sensor and the at least one optical sensor is a contact image sensor or a linear scan head incorporated in the barcode verifier.
  • analyzing the scanned pattern includes: (i) determining, a first width of at least one space, from amongst the plurality of spaces in the printed pattern; (ii) determining, a second width of at least one bar from amongst the plurality of bars in the printed pattern; and (iii) comparing the determined first width with the determined second width, to validate the printed pattern to meet the acceptance criterion.
  • the method further includes: (i) adjusting the thermal management settings of the printer and (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeating steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the method further includes: (i) in instance, where the first width corresponding to the at least one space is less than the second width corresponding to the at least one bar, adjusting the thermal management settings of the printer by decreasing heat settings associated with a print head of the printer; and (ii) in instance, where the first width corresponding to the at least one space is greater than the second width corresponding to the at least one bar, adjusting the thermal management settings of the printer by increasing heat settings associated with the print head of the printer.
  • the determining of the first width of the at least one space and the second width of the at least one bar includes: (i) computing, a threshold value indicative of a median SRP value in a SRP of the scanned pattern; (ii) identifying a first set of pixels corresponding to the at least one space in the printed pattern for which respective SRP value is less than the threshold value; (iii) identifying a second set of pixels corresponding to the at least one bar for which respective SRP value is greater than the threshold value; and (iv) comparing a first count of the identified first set of pixels and a second count the second set of pixels to validate the printed pattern.
  • determining the first width of the at least one space and the second width of the at least one bar includes: (i) computing, for each pixel in the scanned pattern, a difference between a first SRP value of the pixel with a second SRP value of a neighboring pixel in the scanned pattern; (ii) recording in a table a set including difference values computed for each pixel in the scanned pattern; (iii) determining, an average difference value of the difference values recorded in the table; (iv) identifying, a first set of pixels corresponding to the at least one space in the printed pattern for which respective SRP value is less than the determined average difference value; (v) identifying a second set of pixels corresponding to the at least one bar for which respective SRP value is greater than the determined average difference value; and (v) comparing a first count of the identified first set of pixels and a second count the second set of pixels to validate the printed pattern.
  • the optical system includes an optical sensor adapted to scan a printed pattern comprising a plurality of bars and a plurality of spaces of a defined specification.
  • the optical system further includes a processing unit communicatively coupled to the optical system.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (a) analyze, the printed pattern to validate the printed pattern to meet a pre-defined acceptance criterion; (b) record, based on the validation of the printed pattern, thermal management settings of a printer; (c) generate, a scannable test pattern at the recorded thermal management settings; and (d) calibrate, the optical system using an effective aperture size of the optical system determined based on analyzing the scannable test pattern.
  • the processing unit of the optical system is adapted to: (i) adjust thermal management settings of the printer; (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeat steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion; (iii) generate, a new scannable test pattern at the recorded thermal management settings; and (iv) calibrate, the optical system using an effective aperture size of the optical system determined based on analyzing the new scannable test pattern.
  • the processing unit is adapted to analyze the scanned pattern the by analyzing a scanned reflectance profile (SRP) of the scanned pattern to meet the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • SRP scanned reflectance profile
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) access, a SRP of the scanned pattern; (ii) measure a narrow element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the narrow elements in the pattern sensed by the optical system; (iii) measure a wide element center position indicative of median reflectance value of wide elements in the pattern; (iv) compare the narrow element center position with the wide element center position; and (v) validate the printed pattern, in an instance, where based on the comparison the narrow element center position is equal to the wide element center position.
  • the processing unit is to further: (i) generate a command to adjust thermal management settings associated with a print head of the printer and (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeat steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) generate a command to decrease heat settings of a printhead of the printer, in instance, where the narrow element center position is less than the wide element center position; and (ii) generate a command to increase heat settings of the printhead of the printer, in instance, where the narrow element center position is greater than the wide element center position.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) determine, a first width of at least one space, from amongst the plurality of spaces in the printed pattern; (ii) determine, a second width of at least one bar from amongst the plurality of bars in the printed pattern; and (iii) compare the determined first width with the determined second width, to validate the printed pattern to meet the acceptance criterion.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) adjust the thermal management settings of the printer and (ii) based on the adjusted thermal management settings, repeat steps (a)-(c) until the printed pattern meets the pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the processing unit in another aspect, where: (i) in instance, where the first width corresponding to the at least one space is less than the second width corresponding to the at least one bar, the processing unit is to generate a command to decrease heat settings associated with a printhead of the printer; and (ii) in instance, where the first width corresponding to the at least one space is greater than the second width corresponding to the at least one bar, the processing unit is to generate a command to increase heat settings associated with the printhead of the printer.
  • a method for characterizing an optical system of a printer includes (i) accessing, characteristics of a print job defined for printing an image by a printer; (ii) identifying, at least a first region and a second region of the image based on the characteristics of the print job; and (iii) scanning, by the optical system, the first region in a printed image at a first resolution and the second region in the printed image at a second resolution different from the first resolution.
  • the first region is defined to be scanned at a high resolution and the second region in the image is defined to be scanned at a low resolution
  • the method includes: (i) scanning, by the optical system, the first region using default resolution settings of the optical system; and (ii) scanning, by the optical system, the second region by adjusting the default resolution settings of the optical system.
  • the adjusting of the default resolution settings of the optical system includes, combining outputs of a set of sensors of the optical system upon scanning the second region and where a number of sensors in the set of sensors is based on a resolution value of the low resolution.
  • the scanning of the printed image is performed for each row in the image and for each row in the image, the optical system identifies a first portion corresponding to the first region and a second portion corresponding to the second region, for scanning the first portion of the row at the first resolution and the second portion of the row at the second resolution.
  • the method further includes, accessing the combined outputs of the set of sensors of the optical system for verifying the second region on the printed image by the optical system.
  • the method further includes: (i) identifying, a third region of the image based on the characteristics of the print job; and (ii) scanning, by the optical system, the third region in the printed image at a third resolution.
  • the scanning of the second region includes, adjusting default settings of the optical system by combining outputs of two adjacently positioned sensors in a row and two adjacently positioned sensors in a column of a sensor array of the optical system.
  • the scanning of the third region comprises adjusting default settings of the optical system by combining outputs of at least three adjacently positioned sensors in the row and at least three adjacently positioned sensors in the column of a sensor array of the optical system.
  • the method further includes selecting a first effective aperture size and a second effective aperture size for scanning the first region and the second region of the image respectively using a reference table comprising a plurality of aperture sizes and a plurality of resolutions corresponding to the plurality of the aperture sizes.
  • the reference table is created using a reference graph by: (i) scanning, by the optical system, a test pattern to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP), the test pattern comprising at least a test element; (ii) calculating an element-reflectance value from the SRP, the element-reflectance value being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element; and (iii) utilizing the reference graph to interpolate an ideal aperture size of the optical system to be tested, the ideal aperture size corresponding to the element-reflectance value.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the reference graph is created by using known optical systems to scan the test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system, each known optical system having a known aperture diameter that is different from the aperture diameters of the other known optical systems and calculating a reference element-reflectance value from the reference SRPs for each known optical system, the reference element-reflectance values being calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • Some example embodiments described herein relate to a system including: an optical subsystem and a processing unit communicatively coupled to the optical system.
  • the optical subsystem includes an array of sensors arranged in at least one row, the optical subsystem adapted to scan an image printed on a print media.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) access, characteristics of a print job defined for printing the image on the print media; (ii) identify, at least a first region and a second region of the image based on the characteristics of the print job; and (iii) scan, by the optical subsystem, the first region in a printed image at a first resolution and the second region in the printed image at a second resolution different from the first resolution.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) scan, by the optical subsystem, the first region using default resolution settings of the optical subsystem; and (ii) scan, by the optical subsystem, the second region by adjusting the default resolution settings of the optical subsystem.
  • the processing unit is adapted to adjust the default resolution settings of the optical subsystem system based on combining outputs of a set of sensors from amongst the array of the sensors, upon scanning the second region.
  • the processing unit is adapted to: (i) identify, a third region ofthe image based on the characteristics of the print job; and (ii) scan, by the optical system, the third region in the printed image at a third resolution.
  • the processing unit is to scan the second region based on adjusting the default resolution settings by combining outputs of two adjacently positioned sensors in a row and two adjacently positioned sensors in a column, from the array of sensors and the processing unit is to scan the third region based on adjusting the default resolution settings by combining outputs of at least three adjacently positioned sensors in the row and at least three adjacently positioned sensors in the column, from the array of sensors.
  • the processing unit is adapted to select a first effective aperture size and a second effective aperture size to scan the first region and the second region of the image respectively, using a reference table comprising a plurality of aperture sizes and a plurality of resolutions corresponding to the plurality of the aperture sizes.
  • the processing unit is further adapted to access the combined outputs of the set of sensors to verify the second region on the printed image.
  • component or feature may,” “can,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “preferably,” “possibly,” “typically,” “optionally,” “for example,” “often,” or “might” (or other such language) be included or have a characteristic, that particular component or feature is not required to be included or to have the characteristic. Such component or feature may be optionally included in some embodiments, or it may be excluded.
  • the term "print media” is used herein to mean a printable medium (such as a page or a paper) on which print image (such as graphics, text, and/or visual images) may be printed.
  • the print media may correspond to a continuous media that may be loaded in a printing apparatus in form of a roll or a stack. In some embodiments, the scope of the disclosure is not limited to having a continuous media.
  • the print media may be divided into one or more portions through perforations defined along a width of the print media. In an alternate embodiment, the print media is divided into the one or more portions through one or more marks that are defined at a predetermined distance from each other, along the length of the print media.
  • a contiguous stretch of the print media, between two consecutive marks or two consecutive perforations, corresponds to a portion of the print media.
  • the print media may correspond to a thermal media on which the content is printed through application of heat on the print media itself.
  • the print media may correspond to a liner media, a liner-less media, and/or the like.
  • the term "print image” is used herein to mean an image that is to be printed on the print media.
  • the print image may include one or more image components, for example decodable indicia (such as a barcode or a QR code), text content, graphical symbols, and the like, in a specified layout.
  • the term "image buffer” is used herein to mean a storage area reserved in a printing apparatus.
  • the image buffer includes a print image that is to be printed on the print media.
  • the printing system or apparatus may be configured to control the printhead in an appropriate way at appropriate timing to print the print image on the print media.
  • the image buffer may be further configured to store property information associated with the print image. Examples of the property information may include, but are not limited to, gray levels, ANSI grade levels, numeric ANSI grades, and/or bar width growth percentages.
  • the property information may further include type of decodable indicia, for example CODE39.
  • the term "burn line” is used herein to mean a printhead component that includes multiple heating elements disposed thereon, which under the control of a control device that is activated in such a pattern that an image, corresponding to the print image stored in the image buffer, is replicated/imprinted on the print media.
  • the term "printhead” is used herein to mean an assembly that includes one or more burn lines to print the print image (retrieved from the image buffer) on the print media.
  • the printhead may include a plurality of heating elements in each burn line that is energized (or heated) and pressed against a ribbon or the print media (such as a thermal paper) to perform a print operation.
  • the printhead may include a plurality of heating elements in each burn line that is energized (or heated) and pressed against a ribbon or the print media (such as a thermal paper) to perform a print operation.
  • only a set of heating elements are energized to perform the print operation. The set of heating elements may be selected based on the position of the various image components included in the print image to be printed on the print media.
  • web direction is used herein to mean a direction in which the print media travels towards the printhead during a print operation.
  • cross-web direction is used herein to mean a direction that is orthogonal/transverse to the web direction.
  • the cross-web direction is a direction that is orthogonal/transverse to the direction in which the print media exits.
  • the term "Contact Image Sensor (CIS)” is used herein to mean a device that includes an array of linear sensors that capture the image content of the print media as the print media traverses through a printing and verifying system to generate a two-dimensional grayscale image of the print media.
  • the grayscale image may then be analyzed to determine the print quality of a region-of-interest (ROI) (including decodable indicia, such as a barcode) according to, for example ANSI X3.182 and ISO/IEC 15416 standards or other barcode verification standards that may be established in the future.
  • ROI region-of-interest
  • the term "gap sensor” is used herein to mean a sensor that detects a front edge of the print media as it travels towards the printhead. Additionally or alternatively, the gap sensor may be configured to detect the rear edge of the print media.
  • the term "indicia verifier” is used herein to describe an apparatus that monitors whether the printing of the print media is of acceptable quality and/or determines if there are issues with printing decodable indicia onto print media. Examples of such issues may include, but not limited to, ribbon wrinkle, stained print media, damaged print media, defective print media, printing lapses, and barcode width variations. In response to such issues, automatic correction may be performed by the indicia verifier to allow the printing system to continue printing without pausing.
  • processor processing unit
  • processing system and/or the like, is used herein to refer to any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multiple processor chip or chips that can be configured by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described above.
  • multiple processors may be provided, such as one processor dedicated to wireless communication functions and one processor dedicated to running other applications.
  • Software applications may be stored in the internal memory before they are accessed and loaded into the processors.
  • the processors may include internal memory sufficient to store the application software instructions.
  • the internal memory may be a volatile or nonvolatile memory, such as flash memory, or a mixture of both.
  • the memory can also be located internal to another computing resource (e.g., enabling computer readable instructions to be downloaded over the Internet or another wired or wireless connection).
  • memory refers to memory accessible by the processors, including internal memory or removable memory plugged into the device and memory within the processors themselves.
  • memory may be any non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) stored thereof that are executable by a processor.
  • computing device is used herein to refer to any one or all of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable automation controllers (PACs), industrial computers, desktop computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tablet computers, smart books, palm-top computers, personal computers, and similar electronic devices equipped with at least a processor configured to perform the various operations described herein.
  • PLCs programmable logic controllers
  • PACs programmable automation controllers
  • PDAs personal data assistants
  • laptop computers tablet computers
  • smart books palm-top computers
  • personal computers and similar electronic devices equipped with at least a processor configured to perform the various operations described herein.
  • server is used to refer to any computing device capable of functioning as a server, such as a master exchange server, web server, mail server, document server, or any other type of server.
  • a server may be a dedicated computing device or a computing device including a server module (e.g ., running an application which may cause the computing device to operate as a server).
  • a server module e.g ., server application
  • a server module may be a full function server module, or a light or secondary server module (e.g ., light or secondary server application) that is configured to provide synchronization services among the dynamic databases on computing devices.
  • a light server or secondary server may be a slimmed-down version of server type functionality that can be implemented on a computing device, such as a smart phone, thereby enabling it to function as an Internet server (e.g ., an enterprise e-mail server) only to the extent necessary to provide the functionality described herein.
  • a computing device such as a smart phone
  • an Internet server e.g ., an enterprise e-mail server
  • Optical systems can be used for verifying a print quality of a printed label.
  • Such optical systems are installed along with a printer for performing quality check of printing by the printer.
  • These CIS devices have certain aperture sizes that are usually needed for testing certain barcodes.
  • some verification standards may require that information regarding the aperture size of the verifier be made known when the barcode grade is reported.
  • the optical components of a CIS may include an effective aperture dimension that is different from another CIS and that is unknown to the user. The effective aperture dimension of the CIS may greatly affect how the verifier grades the barcodes.
  • an image sensor with a non-uniform response can lead to faulty verification of gray levels in a printed image, and it is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods that provide for adjusting an image sensor to ensure accuracy of verification.
  • determining an effective aperture size of an optical system that may be used for verifying the print quality of a barcode is desired.
  • these optical systems are calibrated upon initialization or before use so that the optical systems operate at defined settings.
  • the resolution setting at which the optical system (such as one having an optical sensor array of a defined aperture size) scans the printed image may need to be calibrated.
  • an effective aperture size of a printer verifier must be calculated for computing ANSI grading and reporting barcode printing quality of labels printed by the printer.
  • determining and calibrating an accurate aperture size of the verifier has associated challenges.
  • a focal point of the printer verifier that is used for determining the aperture size of the printer verifier can be shifted.
  • "Pre-printed calibration cards” can be used to determine aperture size of the verifier.
  • these cards may require careful handling to prevent damaging of the cards during use. Further, the accuracy of these pre-printed calibration cards varies when print media of varying thickness is used for printing.
  • a self-calibration technique includes a process of determining an effective aperture size of the verifier by printing a unique pattern of equal size bars and spaces on any print media to confirm a printed size of desired print pattern.
  • the confirmation of the printed size of desired pattern includes optimizing thermal settings of a printhead in the printer by recursively iterating the process of printing the unique pattern and analyzing a SRP of the printed unique pattern until optimum settings are reached. Once the optimum settings are identified, the method further includes printing a pattern with a known defect at the optimum thermal settings, and measuring the defect and using known techniques to determine the effective aperture size of the verifier.
  • some example embodiments described herein relate to automatically selecting, in run time, (i.e. while a printer is printing a barcode), an effective aperture size applicable for a printer's verifier from a set of different aperture sizes determined using a software.
  • information of a current image to be printed in the printer's image buffer, i.e. an image to be currently printed
  • the verifier is used to configure the verifier to select a resolution and the aperture size before scanning the barcode.
  • Selection of an aperture size of the verifier is based on various characteristics of the image (for example, a size of a barcode in a current reference image to be printed). Selection of resolution is performed based on utilizing a reference table including effective aperture sizes of the verifier for different resolutions of linear sensor of the verifier.
  • characteristics including a size of the barcode is accessed from reference image in printer's image buffer and correspondingly an effective aperture size of the verifier applicable for the barcode size is identified. Further, a resolution applicable for the identified aperture size is identified from the reference table. Additionally, post identification of the aperture size based on the barcode size, some level of software blurring and binning of pixels could be performed using conventional approaches to blur the image for better approximating the aperture size to be used for scanning the barcode. Finally, the identified aperture size and the identified resolution are used for scanning the printed barcode for verification.
  • scanning mechanisms are available in different resolution formats and aperture sizes.
  • scanning images at lower resolution consumes less memory space (and accordingly faster) such that the verifier can perform verification of printed labels that are printed at high printing speed.
  • Scanning images at higher resolution is slower and consumes more memory space.
  • verifier that supports scanning at higher resolution is desired (which reduces an overall printing and verification speed).
  • verification of print quality by the printer verifier at high resolution is challenging due to speed and memory constraints.
  • a method of the printer verifier for scanning a printed image includes using characteristics of a print job for adjusting a resolution at which portions ofthe image are to be scanned by the verifier.
  • the verifier when scanning an image, the verifier does not scan the entire image at only one resolution (i.e. high or low resolution supported by the verifier); instead, the verifier is adapted to scan different regions of an image at different resolutions at which the verifier is interpolated by a software.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view 100A representing a label printer 100 and another perspective view 100B representing various components of the label printer 100, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • the label printer may include an optical system, for example, an indicia verifier comprising a contact image sensor (CIS).
  • the label printer 100 includes a housing 12A, one or more user input components 14A, one or more user output components 16A, a viewing window 18A, and a label output port 20A.
  • a label 22A is illustrated exiting the label output port 20A of the label printer 100.
  • the label printer 100 may be configured to include the optical system, for example, a printer verifier positioned inside the housing 12A.
  • the printer verifier may allow the label printer 100 to be self-correcting and self-calibrating. Additional elements may be incorporated into the label printer 100 to allow the enclosed printer verifier to be self-cleaning.
  • the label printer 100 may include a media hub 102, a printer media output 104, a ribbon drive assembly 106, a ribbon take-up hub 108, and a printhead 110.
  • the label printer 100 may also include a media roll 112, a print media 114, a media path 116, ribbon roll 118, a ribbon 120, and a ribbon path 122.
  • the label printer 100 may further include, for example, a printing and verifying system 124 that may include a gap sensor, the printhead 110, and an optical system (for example, but not limited to, an in-line indicia verifier 126).
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 comprises one or more contact image sensors (CIS) that are hard-wired and fully integrated into the printing and verifying system 124 of the label printer 100. In some embodiments, the in-line indicia verifier 126 is separate from the printing and verifying system 124 of the label printer 100.
  • CIS contact image sensors
  • the media hub 102 is configured to receive the media roll 112.
  • the media roll 112 may correspond to a roll of the print media 114 that may be a continuous media or may, in some example embodiments, include one or more portions that are defined by means of perforations, cut points, or one or more marks (as in the print media 114A).
  • the media hub 102 is coupled to a first electrical drive (not shown) that actuates the media hub 102. On actuation, the media hub 102 causes the media roll 112 to rotate, which further causes the media roll 112 to supply the print media 114 to the printhead 110 along the media path 116. In an example embodiment, along the media path 116, the print media 114 traverses from the media roll 112 through the printhead 110 to the printer media output 104.
  • the printer media output 104 corresponds to a slot or other opening through which the printed media is outputted from the printhead 110.
  • the printer media output 104 may be interfaced with the in-line indicia verifier 126, which may be either a factory fitted or a field installable accessory.
  • the ribbon drive assembly 106 may receive the ribbon roll 118 that corresponds to a roll of the ribbon 120.
  • the ribbon 120 may correspond to an ink media that is utilized to dispose ink onto the print media 114 to print content on the print media 114.
  • the ribbon drive assembly 106 may be coupled to a second electrical drive that may be configured to actuate the ribbon drive assembly 106.
  • the ribbon drive assembly 106 rotates, which in turn causes the ribbon roll 118 to rotate and supply the ribbon 120 along the ribbon path 122.
  • the ribbon 120 traverses from the ribbon roll 118 to the printhead 110, and further to the ribbon take-up hub 108.
  • the ribbon take-up hub 108 may correspond to an assembly that may receive the used ribbon (i.e., a section of the ribbon 120 from which the ink has been disposed on the print media 114).
  • the ribbon take-up hub 108 may also be coupled to a third electrical drive that may be configured to actuate the ribbon take-up hub 108.
  • the ribbon take-up hub 108 pulls the ribbon 120 from the ribbon roll 118.
  • the second electrical drive and the third electrical drive may operate in synchronization such that an amount of the ribbon released by the ribbon roll 118 (due to actuation of the second electrical drive) is equal to the amount of the ribbon received by the ribbon take-up hub 108.
  • the printhead 110 may correspond to a component that is configured to print the content on the print media 114.
  • the printhead 110 may include a plurality of heating elements (not shown), arranged in burn lines, that are energized and pressed against the ribbon 120 to perform a print operation. In operation, the printhead 110 applies heat on a portion of the ribbon 120 and, concurrently, presses the ribbon 120 against the print media 114 to transfer the ink on the print media 114.
  • the printhead 110 may be directly press against the thermal paper to perform the print operation.
  • the printhead 110 may operate based on thermal settings at which the label printer 100 may be configured to print.
  • one or more heating elements of the plurality of heating elements are energized to perform the print operation.
  • the one or more heating elements may be selected based on the image components in the print image. For example, if a letter "A" is to be printed, the one or more heating elements that are energized are positioned on the printhead 110 in such a manner that when the printhead 110 is pressed against the ribbon 120 and the print media 114, letter "A" gets printed on the print media 114.
  • the printhead 110 translates in a vertically downward direction (or downward direction) to push the ribbon 120 against the print media 114.
  • the print media 114 and the ribbon 120 traverse along the media path 116 and the ribbon path 122, respectively, such that the print media 114 is outputted from the printer media output 104 and the used ribbon traverses to the ribbon take-up hub 108.
  • the print media 114 passes through an in-line indicia verifier 126 integrated within and connected to a connection port at a media compartment of the label printer 100.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be used to verify the content of the print media portions (such as label or tag) of the print media 114. The presence of the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be detected by the label printer 100 upon powering up. In case the in-line indicia verifier 126 is being used for the first time in the label printer 100, the in-line indicia verifier may be calibrated for the print image to be printed by the printhead 110 of the label printer 100.
  • the built-in error-handler of the label printer 100 may handle the standard error and generate a display message along with a corresponding error code.
  • the operator of the label printer 100 may take necessary action accordingly to connect the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 may enable the label printer 100 to be self-correcting and self-calibrating, and additional elements may be incorporated into the label printer 100 to allow the enclosed in-line indicia verifier 126 to be self-cleaning. Once verified, the print media 114 is outputted from the printer media output 104.
  • the printing and verifying system 124 comprises at least the printhead 110 and the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the printhead 110 and the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be incorporated entirely within the housing of the label printer 100.
  • the printhead 110 utilizes the ribbon 120 for the thermal transfer of ink to the print media 114 as the print media passes through the printhead 110.
  • the printhead 110 includes a platen roller configured for moving the ribbon 120 and the print media through the printing and verifying system 124. Also, the platen roller provides a surface for supporting the print media 114 when the printhead 110 applies ink or directly prints on the print media 114.
  • the label printer 100 is a thermal transfer printer. Notwithstanding, in other embodiments, the label printer 100 may be a direct thermal printer or other such printer, without deviation from the scope of the disclosure.
  • FIG. 2A illustrates a cutaway inside view of an optical system, for example, the in-line indicia verifier 126, according to one or more example embodiments described herein.
  • FIG. 2B is a side view of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • FIG. 2C is an exploded-view of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 is illustrated to include a sensor housing 202, a window 204, a circuit board 206, a contact image sensor (CIS) 208, a lens array 210, a light board 212, a plurality of light sources 214 (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), and an ultrasonic vibrator 216.
  • a sensor housing 202 a window 204
  • a circuit board 206 the contact image sensor
  • CIS contact image sensor
  • lens array 210 e.g., a lens array 210
  • a light board 212 e.g., a plurality of light sources 214 (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)
  • LEDs light emitting diodes
  • the sensor housing 202 together with the window 204 (on bottom surface), forms an enclosure for protecting the internal components, such as the circuit board 206, the CIS 208, the lens array 210, the light board 212, the plurality of light sources 214 (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), and the ultrasonic vibrator 216 of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the sensor housing 202 of the printing and verifying system 124 is positioned near the printhead 110 to allow monitoring of the print quality with minimal delay after the print image is imprinted on print media, such as the print media 114.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 includes the sensor housing 202 disposed in the interior of the housing of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the window 204 which may be made of a transparent material (such as glass) may permit the plurality of light sources 214 of the in-line indicia verifier 126 to project light upon, each image of decodable indicia printed on the print media is captured as the print image on the print media 114 moves across the window 204.
  • the circuit board 206 may be configured to support other internal components, such as the CIS 208, the lens array 210, the light board 212, the plurality of light sources 214, and the ultrasonic vibrator 216 of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the internal components may be generally soldered onto the circuit board 206 to both electrically connect and mechanically fasten them to the circuit board 206.
  • the light board 212 may be configured to support the plurality of light sources 214 (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) in the sensor housing 202.
  • the plurality of light sources 214 may be spread out across the length of the light board 212 in a specified pattern for properly illuminating the print images printed on the print media.
  • the plurality of light sources 214 may be configured to illuminate and project light upon each print image printed on the print media 114, as the print media 114 travels pass the window 204.
  • the plurality of light sources 214 are LEDs fixed on the light board 212 in the specified pattern. In this example embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2B , there are shown 12 LEDs as the plurality of light sources 214.
  • the plurality of light sources 214 may include more or fewer light sources for properly illuminating the print images printed on the print media 114 in other example embodiments.
  • the lens array 210 may be a group of lenses arranged in a specific pattern configured to receive reflected light from the print media 114 through the window 204. Such reflected light is measured by the CIS 208 having a plurality of sensor chips to generate the scanned image signals.
  • the lens array 210 may have one or more rows of gradient index lenses, with each lens having a continuous change of refractive index inside a cylinder.
  • the one or more rows of gradient index (GRIN) lenses (such as a SELFOC ® brand lens array) that couple the light reflected from the print image of the print media to the CIS 208.
  • the lens array 210 provides a one-to-one correspondence between the width of an image sensing region and the width of a single sensing element of a chip in the CIS 208.
  • each sensing element measures light reflected by a corresponding image region on the print media 114, wherein a width of each sensing element is substantially equal to a width of the corresponding measured image region.
  • the CIS 208 may be configured to generate scanned image signals that correspond to a continuous image based on multiple overlapped images received from adjacent lenses of the lens array 210.
  • the CIS 208 may be an array of linear sensors configured to sense images printed on the print media 114 when the print media 114 is conveyed past the window 204 of the sensor housing 202.
  • the CIS 208 may be configured to scan a test label for conducting a self-calibration method.
  • the test label for example, may include at least one of a test identification barcode, a white band, a black band, greyscale steps, resolution edges, and a distortion grid.
  • the CIS 208 may correspond to an image capturing component configured to generate scanned image signals corresponding to the sensed images printed on the print media 114.
  • the ultrasonic vibrator 216 may be mounted directly on the window 204.
  • the ultrasonic vibrator 216 may be configured to vibrate the window 204 to prevent dust or other small particles from settling on the surface of the window 204.
  • the ultrasonic vibrator 216 may be a piezoelectric element.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 is illustrated to further include a sensor interface circuit 220, a power/interface circuit 222, and an image processor 224, a buffer 226, and the CIS 208.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be configured to receive a plurality of signals including an encoder signal, power and ground signals, and a light control signal from a control logic such as, but not limited to, a processing unit of the label printer 100.
  • the power/interface circuit 222 receives such signals, buffers the signals as necessary, and supplies appropriate signals to several other components of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the power/interface circuit 222 may include the necessary components to supply appropriate power and ground signals to the other components of the in-line indicia verifier 126.
  • the light sources 214 provide light through window 204 to illuminate a focal point F (i.e. on a verifier scan line) on a portion of the print media 114, such as a label. Reflected light from the print media 114 passes through window 204 to lens array 210 and is measured by the CIS 208 having the plurality of sensor chips to generate image signals.
  • the sensor interface circuit 220 receives the image signals from the sensing elements of the plurality of sensor chips, performs analog to digital conversion of the signals, and processes the digital image signals to produce image data that is then sent to the image processor 224 and/or the control logic.
  • the digital image data is representative of the imprinted print media 114.
  • the CIS 208 operates at an appropriate clock rate to provide image signals at a desired longitudinal resolution, described hereinafter as a second resolution.
  • the image processor 224 may perform calculations and operations using the image data according to desired application, such as a defect detection application, color registration application, or the like. Output data from the image processor 224 may then be transmitted to the control logic of the label printer 100.
  • the sensor interface circuit 220 includes an analog front end and a digital processing circuit.
  • the analog front end includes an analog to digital (A/D) converter for converting the image signals from analog to digital.
  • the A/D converter includes a programmable gain amplifier, and the voltage value corresponding to an averaged output of sensing elements is converted to an eight-bit digital voltage signal.
  • the CIS 208 of the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be used to sense the front or rear edge ofthe print media 114. As the print media 114 moves forward under the in-line indicia verifier 126, the CIS 208 scans the image on the print media 114 to create a digital image. In an embodiment, as the print media 114 moves under the in-line indicia verifier 126 and gets scanned, the CIS 208 captures the grayscale of the front edge (or rear edge) of a label of the print media. The digital image may be compared with the original image for validating the print media 114 and grading the print media 114 per customer request.
  • the in-line indicia verifier 126 serves the purpose of scanning the physical media output, such as print media 114, to generate a digital image copy that can be used for different post-processing applications, such as but not limited to, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) grading of an indicium, such as a barcode, print content validation, and optical character recognition (OCR).
  • ANSI American National Standards Institute
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • FIG. 3 illustrates various components of an optical system 300, for example, the in-line indicia verifier 126, in accordance with various example embodiments described herein.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an example apparatus that may represent a basic set of components of a device embodying the optical system 300.
  • the optical system 300 may include optical sensors 302, a processing circuitry 304, a communication circuitry 306, an input/output (I/O) circuitry 308, and a memory 310.
  • each of the optical sensors 302, the communication circuitry 306, the I/O circuitry 308, and the memory 310 may be communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry 304.
  • the optical sensors 302 herein may correspond to a CIS that is adapted to scan an image.
  • the optical system 300 may correspond to an indicia verifier that is adapted to verify a print quality of a printed image.
  • the optical system 300 may be communicatively coupled to a printing system such as, but not limited to, a thermal printer, a label printer, and/or the like, and may verify an image that may include an indicia, for example, but not limited to, a barcode, a QR code, and/or the like printed by the printing system.
  • the optical system 300 may be configured to execute the operations described below in connection with FIGS 21-37 .
  • the optical system 300 may be communicatively coupled to one or more devices external to the optical system, such as the computing devices 312-1, 312-2.... 312-n, and/or the like, via a communication network 314.
  • a printing and verifying system 400 including the optical system 300 communicatively coupled to a printing subsystem 401 (for example, a printer) is described.
  • the printing subsystem 401 may include a processing circuitry 402, a communication circuitry 404, a memory 406, and an I/O circuitry 408.
  • each of the communication circuitry 404, the memory 406, and the I/O circuitry 408 may be communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry 402.
  • the optical system 300 may be communicatively coupled to the printing subsystem 401 via a communication network, such as, but not limited to, the wireless communication network 314.
  • the optical system 300 may be communicatively coupled to the printing subsystem 401 via a wired communication network.
  • the optical system 300 may be adapted to scan an image printed on a print media by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the image may include at least one indicia that may be scanned by the optical system 300 for verifying a print quality of the printed image by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may include a single or multiple set of processors or multi-core processors. Moreover, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may be implemented as an integrated processing system and/or a distributed processing system.
  • the memory 310 and/or the memory 406 can be volatile or nonvolatile memory. The memory 310 and/or the memory 406 can also be removable ( e.g ., portable) memory, or nonremovable ( e.g. , internal) memory.
  • the memory 310 and/or the memory 406 can be random access memory (RAM) (e.g ., dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or phase change random access memory (PCRAM)), read-only memory (ROM) (e.g ., electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) and/or compact-disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), flash memory, a laser disc, a digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage, and/or a magnetic medium such as magnetic cassettes, tapes, or disks, among other types of memory.
  • RAM random access memory
  • DRAM dynamic random access memory
  • PCRAM phase change random access memory
  • ROM read-only memory
  • EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
  • CD-ROM compact-disc read-only memory
  • flash memory e.g a laser disc, a digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage
  • DVD digital versatile disc
  • magnetic medium such as magnetic cassettes, tapes, or disks, among other
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 described herein may be configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations described herein, for example to execute actions needed by the optical system 300 and/or the printing subsystem 401 respectively.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may include one or more processors that may function as controllers for the optical system 300 and/or the printing subsystem 401, respectively.
  • one processor may be a primary controller while another may serve as a backup controller that may be swapped for the primary controller automatically or by maintenance personnel in the event of a failure without undue service downtime.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 described herein may execute various logical layers, applications, or modules including controls, scans, user interface data access, middleware routing, device communications, operating system services, and input/output drivers.
  • the various logical layers, applications, or modules may be executed in conjunction with one another and exchange data with one another.
  • the various logical layers, applications, or modules may be executed individually and/or in concert by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to generate outputs (e.g ., electrical signals to motor contacts, solenoid valves, switches, lamps, etc., data messages, or other output types).
  • inputs e.g ., commands and/or signals from the printing subsystem 401, the optical system 300, and/or other devices respectively
  • outputs e.g ., electrical signals to motor contacts, solenoid valves, switches, lamps, etc., data messages, or other output types.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may exchange data with various other devices (for instance, scanners, sensors, actuators, diagnostic systems, controls, data store, and other devices (e.g ., scales, printers, etc .)) via network connections (e.g., TCP/IP connections, Ethernet connections, Ethercat connections, PROFIBUS connections, RS 232 connections, USB connections, Wi-Fi connections, cellular connections, etc .).
  • network connections e.g., TCP/IP connections, Ethernet connections, Ethercat connections, PROFIBUS connections, RS 232 connections, USB connections, Wi-Fi connections, cellular connections, etc .
  • circuitry as used herein with respect to components of the apparatus therefore includes particular hardware configured to perform the functions associated with the particular circuitry described herein.
  • circuitry may also include software for configuring the hardware components of the optical system 300.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 described herein may be in communication with the memory 310 and/or 406 respectively, via a bus for passing information among components of the optical system 300 and the printing subsystem 401 respectively.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may be embodied in a number of different ways and may, for example, include one or more processing devices configured to perform independently.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may include one or more processors configured in tandem via a bus to enable independent execution of instructions, pipelining, and/or multithreading.
  • the use of the term "processing circuitry" may be understood to include a single core processor, a multi-core processor, multiple processors internal to the apparatus, and/or remote or "cloud" processors.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 310 and/or memory 406 respectively or otherwise accessible to the processor.
  • the processor may be configured to execute hard-coded functionality.
  • the processor may represent an entity (e.g., physically embodied in circuitry) capable of performing operations according to an embodiment of the present invention while configured accordingly.
  • the instructions may specifically configure the processor to perform the algorithms and/or operations described herein when the instructions are executed.
  • the memory 310 and/or the memory 406 may be non-transitory and may include, for example, one or more volatile and/or non-volatile memories.
  • the memory may be an electronic storage device (e.g., a computer readable storage medium).
  • the memory 310 and/or the memory 406 may be configured to store information, data, content, applications, instructions, or the like, for enabling the apparatus to carry out various functions in accordance with example embodiments contemplated herein.
  • the communication circuitry 306 and/or the communication circuitry 404 may be any means such as a device or circuitry embodied in either hardware or a combination of hardware and software that is configured to receive and/or transmit data from/to a network and/or any other device, circuitry, or module in communication with the optical system 300 and/or the printing subsystem 401, respectively.
  • the communication circuitry 306 and/or the communication circuitry 404 may include a network interface for enabling communications with a wired or wireless communication network.
  • the communication circuitry 306 and/or the communication circuitry 404 may include one or more network interface cards, antennae, buses, switches, routers, modems, and supporting hardware and/or software, or any other device suitable for enabling communications via a network.
  • the communication circuitry 306 and/or the communication circuitry 404 may include the circuitry for interacting with the antenna(s) to cause transmission of signals via the antenna(s) or to handle receipt of signals received via the antenna(s).
  • These signals may be transmitted by the optical system 300 and/or the printing subsystem 401 using any of a number of wireless personal area network (PAN) technologies, such as Bluetooth ® vl .0 through v3.0, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), infrared wireless (e.g ., IrDA), ultra-wideband (UWB), induction wireless transmission, or the like.
  • PAN personal area network
  • BLE Bluetooth Low Energy
  • IrDA infrared wireless
  • UWB ultra-wideband
  • these signals may be transmitted using Wi-Fi, Near Field Communications (NFC), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), or other proximity-based communications protocols.
  • the I/O circuitry 308 and/or the I/O circuitry 408 may, in turn, be in communication with processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 respectively, to provide output to a user and, in some embodiments, to receive an indication of user input.
  • the I/O circuitry 308 and/or the I/O circuitry 408 may comprise a user interface and may include a display that may include a web user interface, a mobile application, a client device, or the like.
  • the I/O circuitry 308 and/or the I/O circuitry 408 may also include a keypad, a joystick, a touch screen, touch areas, soft keys, a microphone, a speaker, or other input/output mechanisms.
  • the processor and/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more user interface elements through computer program instructions (e.g ., software and/or firmware) stored on a memory accessible to the processor (e.g ., memory 406, and/or the like).
  • computer program instructions e.g ., software and/or firmware
  • a memory accessible to the processor e.g ., memory 406, and/or the like.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may include a separate processor, specially configured field programmable gate array (FPGA), or application specific interface circuit (ASIC) to perform the above-described functions.
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • ASIC application specific interface circuit
  • the optical system 300 and/or the printing subsystem 401 is therefore implemented using hardware components of the apparatus configured by either hardware or software for implementing these planned functions.
  • an imaging circuitry of the in-line indicia verifier 126 may be communicatively coupled to a printer and may be disposed in a separate verifier.
  • the separate verifier may be attached to the printer or may be a standalone device to where the user brings the printed indicia for verification.
  • the verifier may comprise a verifier memory electrically connected to the imaging circuitry and a verifier processor.
  • the verifier may further comprise an I/O circuitry and a verifier communications circuitry.
  • the verifier may be electrically connected via a coupler (e.g., wires, traces, etc.) to form an interconnection subsystem.
  • the interconnection system may include power buses or lines, data buses, instruction buses, address buses, etc ., which allow operation of the modules/subsystems and the interaction there between.
  • the I/O circuitry of the verifier may also include a verifier graphical user interface.
  • the verifier may be communicatively connected using the verifier communications circuitry to a computing device or the network via a wired or wireless data link.
  • the communication module may communicate with a host device over the network via a variety of communication protocols (e.g ., WI-FI ® , BLUETOOTH ® ), CDMA, TDMA, or GSM).
  • a memory and a processor is in the verifier, it is to be understood that, in some example embodiments, only the printer or only the verifier, or both the printer and verifier communicatively coupled thereto may comprise the memory and the processor for executing the steps as hereinafter described (i.e., at least one of the verifier and the printer comprises a memory communicatively coupled to the imaging module and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory).
  • the verifier that is attached to the printer may rely on the memory and the processor of printer for executing the steps as hereinafter described, while the verifier that is a standalone device has its own memory and processor for executing the steps as hereinafter described.
  • the printer may rely on the memory and the processor of verifier attached to the printer for executing the steps as hereinafter described. Therefore, the processor in at least one of the printer and the verifier (or in the printer-verifier) is configured by the print quality verification program to execute the steps as hereinafter described to control the print quality of the printed barcode.
  • printer-verifiers e.g. , a thermal direct printer, a laser toner printer, an ink drop printer, etc.
  • printer-verifiers e.g. , a thermal direct printer, a laser toner printer, an ink drop printer, etc.
  • the term "printer” refers to a device that prints barcodes, OCR-characters, text, illustrations, etc. onto print media (e.g ., labels, tickets, plain paper, synthetic paper, receipt paper, plastic transparencies, and the like). Unless otherwise indicated, the term “printer” includes printer and printer-verifier. The print media may be continuous or non-continuous.
  • FIG. 5 depicts a plurality of exemplary printed indicia (for example, barcodes) on individual labels 22C of a print media 6C, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary printed barcode (a portion of a QR Code) comprising a two-dimensional barcode, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • barcode and "OCR-B character” refer to an optical representation of data (e.g., data is encoded into the barcode and OCR-B character) that may be scanned (i.e., machine read) by a machine-reader.
  • barcodes may be one-dimensional barcodes (e.g., Universal Product Code, U.P.C.) having dark lines ( i.e., bars) and light lines ( i.e., spaces) of various widths arranged along a scan axis (see, e.g., FIG. 5 ).
  • Barcodes may be two-dimensional matrix symbols (e.g ., Aztec Code, Data Matrix, QR Code ( e.g., FIG. 6 ), PDF417, etc., herein a "two-dimensional barcode") having a two-dimensional array of light features, dark features, and (in some cases) alignment features.
  • the light and dark features may include "modules," i.e., the printed (or unprinted) squares in a two-dimensional matrix symbol.
  • An exemplary two-dimensional barcode (e.g ., QR Code) is partially depicted in FIG. 6 .
  • the graphical look of a two-dimensional barcode is created by different patterns of geometric shapes.
  • Some barcodes may use color (e.g ., Ultracode) to encode data.
  • OCR-B characters also encode data and include "modules" ( i.e., printed or unprinted squares).
  • Barcodes and OCR-B characters are printed on print media. Once printed on a print medium, the barcode is referred to herein as a "printed barcode.”
  • the OCR-B character is referred to herein as a "printed OCR-B character” once printed on a print medium.
  • the print medium on which the machine-readable indicium is printed is referred to herein as a "printed medium.”
  • the printed medium may be affixed to an item.
  • the encoded data relates to the item(s) on which the printed medium is affixed.
  • the terms “barcode” and “symbol” may be used interchangeably herein.
  • a quality of the printed barcode depends on the orientation of the printed barcode on the print medium (e.g. , the label orientation) and how the printed barcode comes out of the printer. For instance, when the bars of a one-dimensional linear barcode are parallel to the movement of the print media stock through the printer, this is referred to as printing the barcode as a picket fence.
  • a printed barcode formatted in the picket fence orientation is identified in FIG. 5 as printed barcode 1C-a.
  • Printed barcode 1C-a comprises a first one-dimensional barcode.
  • Printed barcode 1C-b comprises a second one-dimensional barcode.
  • the first one-dimensional barcode 1C-a and the second one-dimensional barcode 1C-b are printed on the same print medium.
  • a printed barcode may comprise the first one-dimensional barcode 1C-a and the second one-dimensional barcode 1C-b printed on the same print medium.
  • the picket fence orientation refers to the print direction in which the modules are arranged perpendicular to the movement of the print media and the ladder orientation refers to the print direction in which the modules are arranged parallel to the movement of the print media.
  • the features of the printed barcode in FIG. 6 in the picket face orientation are identified the letter "A” and the features in the ladder orientation are identified with the letter "B".
  • FIG. 7 schematically depicts an exemplary printer comprising an optical system such as, but not limited to, the in-line indicia verifier 126, and operations of the printer in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • FIG. 7 schematically depicts an exemplary printer 700, which as shown may be a thermal transfer printer. Alternatively, any other printer or marking devices may be utilized in accordance with the present disclosure.
  • a printer 700 is provided which includes a printing assembly 702, a media transport assembly 704, and an imaging assembly 706.
  • the printing assembly 702 includes a printhead 708 and a print driver 710.
  • the media transport assembly 704 includes a stepper motor 712 and a platen roller 714.
  • the stepper motor 712 advances the platen roller 714 in discrete increments, which, in turn, advances a printing media 716 between the platen roller 714 and the printhead 708 in a printing direction shown by an arrow 718.
  • the speed of the media 716 may be tracked with a processor 720 associated with a counter, which maintains a count of the steps taken by the stepper motor 712.
  • the printhead 708 is activated by the print driver 710.
  • the print driver 710 is driven by print commands which are generated by print logic.
  • the print commands comprise print data in combination with a system clock signal or strobe signal under control of the processor 720, intended to provide proper timing and spacing of successive sequential parts of the indicia to be printed or marked on the media by the printhead 708.
  • the indicia in accordance with various embodiments, may correspond to one of a barcode or other types of printed text or images.
  • the printhead 708 have an array of print elements 722, and are operable for printing or marking a plurality of sequential parts of indicia onto a corresponding plurality of sequential segments of the media 716, producing printed media 124.
  • the print driver 710 uses the print commands generated by the print logic to provide energizing signals to the array of print elements 722 of the printhead 708.
  • the energizing signals activate the print elements 122, which, when activated, are effective to place a mark on the respective sequential segment of the media 716.
  • the printed media 124 advances past the imaging assembly 706, which comprises an image head (or scanner) 126.
  • the image head 126 or the scanner in accordance with some example embodiments described herein may correspond to the CIS, the optical system, the in-line indicia verifier 126, and/or the like.
  • the image head 126 is configured to capture information about the printed media or sequential parts thereof produced by the printing assembly 702.
  • the image head 126 optically images, digitizes, or samples at least a portion of an indicia printed by the printhead 708.
  • the imaging assembly 706 takes advantage of the motion of the printed media 124 past the image head 126 to successively capture each portion of printed media, as the printed media advances past the image head.
  • the image head 126 contains an array of photosensitive elements, such as in a charged coupled device ("CCD") having, for example, linear active surface pixel elements.
  • the image head 126 may contain other image sensors, such as 1D/2D array complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), CIS, or other such image sensors.
  • CMOS complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
  • several imaging samples may be taken as the printed media 124 advances past the image head 126.
  • Several imaging samples of an indicia may be aggregated to provide a digital representation or digital image of one or more portions of the printed indicia.
  • the digital image and/or imaging samples may be stored in memory storage 728 for further processing or analysis in accordance with the present disclosure.
  • Such further processing may be handled by a server 730, such as in an enterprise network environment.
  • a server 730 such as in an enterprise network environment.
  • Other image heads may also be used, including vidicons, two-dimensional semiconductor arrays, and two-dimensional image sensor arrays. Operation of such a CCD image head is described in further detail in U.S. Patent No. 6,042,279 .
  • a transport rate of the media 716 is intended to be synchronous with the activation of the printhead 708, such that print commands instructing the printhead 708 to print the successive sequential parts of the indicia correspond to the stepping of the stepper motor 712 and rotation of the platen roller 714.
  • the printing media is transported past the printhead at a transport rate such that the plurality of sequential parts of the indicia are printed on the corresponding sequential segments of the media.
  • the transport rate of a media during printing is faster than intended, the printed image will be longer than instructed by the print command, which is sometimes referred to as image stretch.
  • the transport rate of a media during printing is slower than intended, the printed image will be shorter than instructed by the print command, which is sometimes referred to as image compression.
  • FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a printing and verifying device 800 including the optical system for verifying a printed media.
  • the printing and verifying device 800 includes, among other things, a printing mechanism 802, a CIS device 804, and a print quality monitoring device 806.
  • these elements are disposed inside a housing of a label printer (e.g., label printer 100).
  • the CIS device 804 may be incorporated into a housing or positioned at an output port of the label printer.
  • the printing and verifying device 800 is configured such that the printing mechanism 802 and CIS device 804 (or a camera in general) are positioned adjacent to or near each other. In this way, the sensing of the print quality can take place immediately after the printing mechanism 802 prints onto the labels.
  • the CIS device 804 (or the camera) senses images of the labels and forwards sensor signals to the print quality monitoring device 806, which acts as a control device.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 processes the sensor signals to determine print quality and provides feedback to the printing mechanism 802.
  • print media 808 is fed through the label printer in the direction of arrow 810, as shown in FIG. 8 .
  • the print media 808 may include blank labels 812 onto which the printing mechanism 802 prints images to produce printed labels 814 that are fed through an output port of the label printer.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates examples of labels having properly and improperly printed barcodes that are verified by the optical system, for instance, the in-line indicia verifier 126, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • a first label 902a includes barcode 904a, which has been properly printed and has been verified by the print quality monitoring device 806 as being valid for use.
  • a second label 902b includes a defective barcode 904b, which, in this case, includes discontinuous barcode lines caused by any number of possible situations.
  • the CIS device 804 and print quality monitoring device 806 can detect the defective barcode 904b even while a portion of the defective barcode 904b is still being printed.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 can instruct the printing mechanism 802 to print an error mark 906, such as an "X", onto the top of the label 902b while the print media 808 is still being fed through the label printer.
  • a third label 902c is also detected as having a defective barcode 904c.
  • the barcode 904c is faded to a level that does not meet quality standards for barcodes.
  • the printing mechanism 802 is again alerted to the issue and prints an error mark 906 onto the defective label 902c.
  • the error mark 906 can be used to indicate to a user that the labels are not to be used.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 may determine that an error occurs. Not only can the print quality monitoring device 806 instruct the printing mechanism 802 to print the error marks (e.g., mark 906 shown in FIG. 9 ) when necessary, the print quality monitoring device 806 may also instruct the printing mechanism 802 to stop printing. In addition, stopping the printing process can also include instructing a feeding mechanism to stop feeding the print media 808 through the label printer. Furthermore, in response to detecting an error, the print quality monitoring device 806 may further provide instructions to a user regarding how the issues may be fixed.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 may determine that an error occurs. Not only can the print quality monitoring device 806 instruct the printing mechanism 802 to print the error marks (e.g., mark 906 shown in FIG. 9 ) when necessary, the print quality monitoring device 806 may also instruct the printing mechanism 802 to stop printing. In addition, stopping the printing process can also include instructing a feeding mechanism to stop feeding the print media 808 through the label printer. Furthermore, in response to detecting an error, the print quality monitoring device
  • FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing another example embodiment of a printing and verifying device 1000 comprising a CIS device 1002, for example, the optical system, in accordance with some example embodiments.
  • the printing and verifying device 1000 of FIG. 10 includes a control device 1004, a printing mechanism 1006, and the CIS device 1002.
  • the control device 1004 includes a USB 2.0 interface 1008 for enabling communication with the printing mechanism 1006 and an analog front end (AFE) interface 1010 for enabling communication with the CIS device 1002.
  • the control device 1004 may also be connected to a memory, such as DDR2 RAM 1012 and SPI flash 1014.
  • the control device 1004 is also connected to a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) joint test action group (JTAG) interface 1022 and a motor driver 1016.
  • the motor driver 1016 is configured to drive a motor 1018 that is used to feed the print media through the label printer.
  • a power supply 1020 supplies power to the control device 1004, printing mechanism 1006, the CIS device 1002, the motor driver 1016, and other components of the printing and verifying device 1000.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 and the control device 1004 are configured to adjust printer settings of the printing mechanism 802, 1006 to optimize a print quality of the printing mechanism 802, 1006.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 and the control device 1004 are configured to allow the printing mechanism 802, 1006 to continue printing if the adjustments of the printer settings are sufficient to maintain an acceptable print quality.
  • the print quality monitoring device 806 or the control device 1004 determines that issues regarding the print quality are not correctible, the print quality monitoring device 806 or the control device 1004 is configured to discontinue the operations of the printing device, and is further configured to instruct a user via the user output component or other output device on how to correct the issues manually.
  • the printing and verifying device 800 is configured to monitor ribbon wrinkle, stained print media, damaged print media, defective print media, printing lapses, and barcode width variations. Upon determining that a printed label is damaged or contaminated or upon receiving an input from a user to obtain a copy of the printed label, the printing and verifying device 800 may be configured to scan and restore the printed label. Also, the printing and verifying device 800 may instruct the printing mechanism 1006 to print the scanned and restored label.
  • This scanning and restoring feature allows the user to quickly reproduce labels and even restore damaged labels, contaminated labels, or other low quality labels.
  • This feature can be comparable to a photocopier with repair functionality to restore the quality of the labels. Because reproducing barcodes results in a similar or lower print quality, it is usually not recommended to photocopy barcode labels. However, the present disclosure is capable of restoring quality to guarantee an acceptable print quality.
  • the optical system for example, the in-line indicia verifier 126, may be adapted to perform self-calibration.
  • the self-calibration of the optical system may be performed by using a test label.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a test label 1100 that may be used for self-calibration.
  • the test label 1100 can be inserted into a path of the print media so that it passes by the printing and verifying device 1000 including the CIS device 1002 or other device for detecting the quality of a printed label.
  • the test label 1100 includes an identification barcode 1102, a white band 1104, and a black band 1106.
  • the identification barcode 1102 can be read by a sensor, for instance one or more optical sensors of the optical system or the CIS device 1002, to determine that the test label 1100 is for test purposes to self-calibrate the sensor.
  • the self-calibration process can be automatically activated as a result of reading the identification barcode 1102.
  • the features of the identification barcode 1102, such as length, width, and edge quality, also serve as geometric and graphical references for the CIS device 1002 for calculating print quality and defects.
  • the white band 1104 may be used to detect a visible accumulation of absorptive (i.e., dark) dust and the black band 1106 may be used to detect a visible accumulation of reflective (i.e., bright) dust.
  • the white band 1104 and the black band 1106 also serve as references for printing reflectance levels for the verifier when calculating contrast.
  • a test label may be used that also includes greyscale steps, resolution edges, and a distortion grid.
  • the printing and verifying device 1000 is configured to scan the test label 1100 for conducting the self-calibration process.
  • the test label 1100 may include the test identification barcode 1102, at least one white band 1104, and at least one black band 1106.
  • FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 1200 for printing and verifying labels by the optical system, in accordance with various example embodiments described herein.
  • a left side of the flow diagram includes steps that may be executed by a printer and a right side of the flow diagram includes steps that may be executed by the optical system, for example, the printing and verifying system 124, or the CIS device 804, 1002, and/or the like, referred as scanner hereinafter for the description of FIG. 12 .
  • the method 1200 includes steps of configuring printer settings of the printer, as indicated in block 1202. After the print settings are configured, the printer can start printing (block 1204). The scanner waits for the printing process to start, as indicated in block 1206. When printing has commenced, the method 1200 includes scanning the printed label according to block 1208. Then, the method 1200 includes the step of monitoring the print quality of the scanned label (block 1210). As indicated in block 1212, the scanner then feeds the results of monitoring the print quality back to the printer.
  • the printer may need to wait for the feedback (block 1214) before continuing the printing process. However, if the scanning and monitoring steps are executed quickly, the printer may receive the results from the scanner during the printing process, such that no delay is experienced. Nevertheless, once the printer receives the feedback, it is determined in decision block 1216 whether the print quality is acceptable. If it is determined that the print quality is inadequate to continue printing, the printing process ends. In some embodiments, information may be provided to the user ( e.g ., via user output components) as to why the printing process is stopped.
  • the method 1200 may include additional steps to determine if unacceptable print quality determined in block 1216 is correctible. If so, adjustments to the printer settings can be made without stopping the printing process.
  • the method 1200 proceeds to decision block 1218, which determines if more labels are to be printed. If not, the method 1200 ends. Otherwise, for more labels, the method 1200 returns to block 1204 and the printing continues for the next label. The processes of method 1200 may repeat these steps for each label.
  • a method associated with a printer for verifying print quality may be provided.
  • the method may include the step of utilizing a printer mechanism to print images onto the print media (block 1204).
  • the method may include optically monitoring (block 1210), inside the printer, a print quality of the images printed onto the print media and then adjusting printer settings of the printer mechanism based on the monitored print quality.
  • the method may also include automatically maintaining the cleanliness of components inside the printer that are configured to monitor the print quality.
  • the method may include an additional step of instructing the printer mechanism to print marks on defective print media when the monitored print quality is below an acceptable standard.
  • the method may also include positioning a printing verification device near a printer mechanism to allow the printing verification device to monitor the print quality with minimal delay after the images are printed on the print media.
  • Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as various computer-implemented methods, details of which are described hereinafter.
  • FIG. 13 is a view of an example CIS 1300 comprising plurality of optical sensors, for instance, sensor pick-up units 1302.
  • the sensor pick-up units 1302 may be part of an array of optical units having a light source and photocell such as exists in a typical CIS.
  • the dimension d represents a center spacing from one sensor pick-up unit 1302 to an adjacent unit 1302. Therefore, the dimension d may be used to determine the number of units per inch.
  • An array of sensor pick-up units 1302 having a small dimension d will produce a finer resolution image.
  • the number of units 1302 per inch may be used to determine a theoretical resolution, for instance, a resolution measured in dots per inch (dpi) like, but not limited to 600 dpi, 800 dpi, 1200 dpi, and/or the like.
  • a more accurate representation of the optical system is the "effective aperture size,” as defined herein.
  • FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a test pattern 1402.
  • the test pattern 1402 may include any combination of bars and spaces. As illustrated, the test pattern 1402 includes narrow bars and wide bars separated from each other by narrow spaces and wide spaces. According to alternative embodiments, the test pattern 1402 may include bars all having the same width and/or spaces all having the same width. In other embodiments, the test pattern 1402 may have bars having two or more different widths and/or may be separated by spaces having two or more widths.
  • the test pattern 1402 may contain a test element (i.e., a bar or a space) that is smaller than the other elements.
  • the test pattern 1402 may be reproduced on a test card or other media to allow a verifier to be tested. Also, the test pattern 1402 can be used by known optical systems for establishing a reference graph that can be used for characterizing the optical system of the verifier to be tested. The processes for establishing a reference graph are described in more detail below.
  • the test pattern 1402 may correspond to a readable barcode. Otherwise, the test pattern 1402 may include any combination of bars and spaces simply for the purpose of testing. Thus, the test pattern 1402 does not necessarily meet any particular format structure for barcodes or include the prerequisite number or position of encoded characters, proper widths of bars and spaces, or other characteristics of a barcode that might conform to predefined barcode standards. In other embodiments, the test pattern may be a two-dimensional (2D) barcode (e.g. , PDF417, Data Matrix, Quick Response code (QR code), etc.).
  • 2D two-dimensional
  • the test pattern 1402 includes a test element 1404, such as a bar that is narrower than the narrow bars of the test pattern 1402.
  • the test element 1404 may be a space that is narrower than the narrow spaces of the test pattern 1402.
  • the test element 1404 may be a narrow bar or space that is narrower than the aperture size ( e.g., diameter d) of a lens array of the CIS 1300.
  • the test pattern 1402 may include two or more test elements having similarities to the test element 1404.
  • the test element 1404 shown in FIG. 14 may be referred to as a "defect" according to barcode verification standards and may cause substantially reduced contrast as a function of the aperture size.
  • a highly accurate effective aperture size can be determined.
  • the same methods can also be used to determine non-conformance of verification products that may advertise actual sizes but are unable to provide results close to the effective aperture sizes.
  • test patterns may be created for testing the optical systems.
  • the different test patterns may have different patterns of bars and spaces and may have different widths of the test elements.
  • each test pattern may include a readable identification code.
  • a reflectance value is calculated from a particular test pattern, a corresponding reference graph can be identified with respect to the identified test pattern for determining aperture size.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates the test pattern 1402 of FIG. 14 and further illustrates the width of a scan beam or aperture size 1406 (i.e., diameter d) used for reading the test pattern 1402.
  • the aperture size 1406 may correspond approximately to the width of the narrow bars and narrow spaces of the test pattern 1402.
  • the width of the test element 1404 may be narrower than the aperture size 1406.
  • optical systems having different aperture sizes can be used to scan the test pattern 1402.
  • the test pattern 1402 can be used to establish a reference to which characteristics of an optical system to be tested can be compared.
  • the test pattern 1402 can be scanned by known metrology devices having apertures with known optical dimensions.
  • a barcode metrology device is referred to as a scanning microdensitometer, which can be used to measure known defect cards that are used to calibrate verifiers.
  • a verifier can be tested to determine if the verifier roughly displays characteristics of a verifier having the same aperture size.
  • implementations of the present disclosure include scanning the test pattern 1402 to obtain information from a reference metrology device. This information can then be used create a reference graph. Then, from the reference graph, an optical system, for instance, the in-line indicia verifier 126, can be characterized to determine effective aperture size.
  • FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a barcode verifier 1600 that is capable of characterizing its own optical system to certify conformance to an aperture dimension.
  • the barcode verifier 1600 comprises a processing device 1602, an optical sensor 1604, and memory 1606.
  • the memory 1606 may be configured to store software and/or firmware components for enabling the barcode verifier 1600 to not only verify a barcode but also to characterize an optical system to be tested. More particularly, the characterization of the optical system may refer to the process of determining an effective dimension (e.g., aperture diameter) of the optical sensor 1604.
  • the memory 1606 may include, for example, a reference chart 1608, a scan reflectance profile (SRP) processing unit 1610, and an interpolation unit 1612.
  • the reference chart 1608 is a graph that is created when the test pattern 1402 is used with known reference metrology devices.
  • the reference chart 1608 may be used with other barcode verifiers that also utilize the test pattern for characterizing an optical system.
  • the reference chart 1608 can be used for determining an effective aperture size of an unknown optical system.
  • reflectance values derived from an SRP of the test pattern 1402 can be calculated for a number of known optical systems having different known aperture sizes.
  • the reflectance values and known aperture sizes can represent point coordinates in the reference chart 1608.
  • a line or curve can be created to show an approximate correlation between reflectance values and aperture sizes.
  • an unknown optical system such as the barcode verifier 1600 of FIG. 16
  • the barcode verifier 1600 of FIG. 16 can be utilized to scan the same test pattern used for creating the reference chart 1608, such as the test pattern of FIG. 14 .
  • the reference chart 1608 can then be used to determine effective aperture size.
  • the optical sensor 1604 optically senses a test pattern, such as the test pattern 1402 of FIG. 14 or other suitable patterns having distinguishable test elements, such as test element 1404.
  • the processing device 1602 utilizes the SRP processing unit 1610 to create an SRP from data obtained from the scanned test pattern.
  • the processing device 1602 may also utilize the SRP processing unit 1610 to determine information from the SRP.
  • the processing device 1602 may determine a parameter related to the reflectance characteristics of the elements of the test pattern.
  • One reflectance parameter of interest may be a parameter referred to as Element Reflectance Non-uniformity (ERN).
  • ERN Element Reflectance Non-uniformity
  • the corresponding effective aperture size can be determined by interpolating the ERN values with respect to the reference chart 1608.
  • the ERN value can be compared with known values of the reference chart 1608.
  • the interpolation can be performed using the interpolation unit 1612 to determine a corresponding aperture dimension value.
  • This aperture dimension value can be referred to as an effective aperture size for the unknown optical system (e.g., a system including one or more of the optical sensor 1604).
  • the barcode verifier 1600 may be configured as a testing device that is configured to merely determine the effective aperture size without performing verification functions.
  • the barcode verifier 1600 can be used for characterizing an optical system (i.e., the barcode verifier 1600 can be used as a testing system).
  • the testing system may use a scannable test pattern, such as the test pattern 1402 shown in FIG. 14 .
  • the test pattern is configured with a plurality of linear bars and a test element having a width that is narrower than each of the plurality of linear bars or spaces.
  • the optical sensor 1604 is configured to scan the scannable test pattern to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP).
  • the processing device 1602 is configured to calculate an element-reflectance value from information in the SRP related to the scanned test element.
  • the barcode verifier 1600 further utilizes a reference graph having a curve that correlates aperture dimensions to element-reflectance values.
  • a reference curve is shown in FIG. 18 and is described below.
  • the processing device 1602 is further configured to interpolate an effective aperture dimension of the optical sensor 1604 from the reference graph based on the calculated element-reflectance value.
  • the reference graph is created by using known optical systems having different aperture dimensions to scan the scannable test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system.
  • the processing device 1602 calculates a reference element-reflectance value for each known optical system from information related to the scanned test element in the reference SRPs.
  • the graph processing unit includes a step of plotting the curve of the reference graph to show the correlation between the reference element-reflectance values and known aperture dimensions of the known optical systems.
  • the plurality of linear bars of the scannable test pattern may represent bars of a linear barcode.
  • the optical sensor 1604 may be a CIS or linear scan head incorporated in a barcode verifier.
  • the barcode verifier for example, may be part of an integrated printer/verifier device.
  • FIG. 17 is a graphical depiction of a scan reflectance profile (SRP) 1702.
  • the SRP 1702 of FIG. 17 is an example of a measurement of grayscale levels of reflectance of the test pattern of FIG. 14 .
  • the grayscale levels may be configured as an eight-bit digital value ranging from 0 to 255 on the SRP 1702. Therefore, the black (i.e ., low-reflectance) bars are depicted in the SRP 1702 as having a low level of reflectance on the SRP 1702, while the white (i.e., high-reflectance) spaces are depicted in the SRP 1702 as having a high level of reflectance.
  • the SRP 1702 may show the feature of the test element 1404, which in some embodiments may be a thin low-reflectance bar.
  • a grayscale level of 217 is reached at the space before the test element 1404.
  • the scan drops to a grayscale level of 119 at the position of the test element 1404.
  • the reason that the reflectance does not drop to a level near zero at the test element 1404 is due to the thin width of the test element 1404 with respect to the aperture of the optical system.
  • the SRP 1702 shows in this example that the reflectance level reaches 209 at the space after the test element 1404.
  • an element-reflectance value can be calculated regarding the test element 1404.
  • This ERN value, which the processing device 1602 may derive from the SRP 1702 according to the example of FIG. 17 is also used in the example with respect to FIG. 18 .
  • FIG. 18 is a reference graph 1802 that may be created from known optical systems having known aperture sizes.
  • the reference graph 1802 may be stored in the memory of a barcode verifier.
  • the reference graph 1802 may be the same as the reference chart 1608 described with respect to FIG. 16 .
  • the reference graph 1802 correlates element-reflectance values (e.g., ERN) with aperture size.
  • the aperture size may be measured in units of thousandths of an inch (i.e., "mils").
  • Four points 518 have been used in this example for creating the reference graph 1802.
  • an optical system having an aperture size of 3 mils had been used to scan a test pattern to produce an SRP from which the ERN value was found to be 156 on an eight-bit gray-scale value ranging from 0 to 255.
  • a 5-mil optical system scanned the same test pattern to obtain an ERN value of 124; a 6-mil optical system scanned the test pattern to obtain an ERN value of 108.5; and the 10-mil system obtained an ERN value of 57.5. From these four points 1803, the reference curve 1804 was created.
  • the unknown optical system is used to scan the test pattern and an SRP is created from the scan.
  • the ERN value is calculated from the SRP and the ERN value is used to interpolate the effective aperture size.
  • the SRP 1702 was created and an ERN value of 94.0 was calculated with respect to the portion of the SRP 1702 corresponding to the location of the test element 1404.
  • the ERN value of 94.0 is used to determine an effective aperture size of approximately 6.8 mils.
  • FIG. 19 is a flow diagram showing an embodiment of a method 1900 for creating a reference graph.
  • the method 1900 includes a step of creating a test pattern, indicated in block 1902.
  • the test pattern may include a plurality of bars and spaces and at least one test element.
  • the method 1900 includes selecting a first known optical sensor having a known aperture size. This selected optical sensor is used to scan the test pattern to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP), as indicated in block 1906.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the method 1900 includes calculating an element-reflectance value, such as Element Reflectance Non-Uniformity (ERN), as indicated in block 1908. This value is calculated with respect to the portion of the SRP where the test element is positioned within the test pattern. Also, a coordinate including the two variables of ERN (or other reflectance value) and aperture size can be stored.
  • element-reflectance value such as Element Reflectance Non-Uniformity (ERN)
  • Decision block 1910 describes a step of determining whether more known optical sensors are to be used to create additional coordinates. At least two coordinates are needed to at least create a line that can be used as a reference for other intermediate interpolation. Preferably, at least two known aperture sizes will bound the aperture sizes of the unknown optical systems to be tested. In some embodiments, the line (or curve) created by two or more points can be used to interpolate or extrapolate aperture size values from calculated ERN values.
  • each known optical sensor may have different aperture sizes for creating multiple points on the graph.
  • the method 1900 proceeds to block 1912.
  • the method 1900 includes the step of creating a reference graph that relates the element-reflectance values with respect to the aperture sizes.
  • the reference graph may have a similar appearance as the graph shown in FIG. 18 .
  • the present disclosure describes embodiments of methods for creating a reference graph to be used for characterizing an optical system.
  • the method may include creating a test pattern including a test element and a plurality of bars and spaces. The width of the test element is preferably narrower than the width of each of the plurality of bars and spaces.
  • the method may also include using a plurality of reference optical sensors having different known aperture sizes to scan the test pattern to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP) for each reference optical sensor.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the method includes calculating an element-reflectance value from each SRP, wherein each element-reflectance value is calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • the method may include creating the reference graph by plotting a curve showing a relationship between element-reflectance values versus known aperture sizes of the reference optical sensors. An effective aperture size of an optical system to be tested can then be determined using the reference graph.
  • the method may also include the step of determining the effective aperture size of an optical system to be tested.
  • the effective aperture size may be determined from the reference graph by calculating an element-reflectance value from an SRP obtained by using the optical system to be tested to scan the test pattern and interpolating the aperture size from the calculated element-reflectance value.
  • the method may also include the step of creating a plurality of test patterns each having a test element and a plurality of bars and spaces.
  • the width of each test element may be narrower than the width of each of the plurality of bars and spaces.
  • the test element of each test pattern may have a width that is different from the width of the other test elements.
  • the method may further comprise a step of using the plurality of reference optical sensors to scan the respective test pattern to obtain an SRP for each reference optical sensor.
  • An element-reflectance value can be calculated from each SRP, wherein each element-reflectance value is calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element of the respective test pattern.
  • the method may include a step of creating a reference graph corresponding to the respective test pattern, which plots element-reflectance values versus known aperture sizes of the reference optical sensors.
  • the method may further include the step of scanning each of the plurality of test patterns using an optical system to be tested to obtain test SRPs.
  • the method may also include calculating a test element-reflectance value from each of the test SRPs, wherein the test element-reflectance values are calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element of each of the plurality of test patterns.
  • each respective reference graph is utilized to interpolate an aperture dimension of the optical system to be tested.
  • Each aperture dimension corresponds with the test element-reflectance value.
  • the method may include averaging the aperture dimensions determined from the plurality of reference graphs to calculate an effective aperture diameter for the optical system to be tested.
  • the plurality of bars and spaces of the test pattern may include narrow bars, wide bars, narrow spaces, and wide spaces representing bars and spaces of a linear barcode.
  • the test element may be a low-reflectance bar having a width less than the nominal diameter of an aperture of each of the reference optical sensors.
  • FIG. 20 is a flow diagram showing an embodiment of a method 2000 for characterizing an optical system.
  • the method 2000 includes a step of scanning a test pattern using an optical system to be tested, as indicated in block 2002.
  • the test pattern is the same test pattern used for creating the reference graph, as described above. From the scan of the test pattern, a scan reflectance profile (SRP) can be obtained.
  • SRP scan reflectance profile
  • the method 2000 further includes the step of calculating an element-reflectance value (e.g., ERN) from the SRP, as indicated in block 2004.
  • the element-reflectance value is calculated with respect to the portion of the SRP that relates to the test element of the test pattern.
  • the method 2000 also includes utilizing a reference graph to interpolate an effective aperture size of the optical system to be tested, as indicated in block 2006.
  • the reference graph is the same graph created with respect to the known optical systems using the same test pattern.
  • the effective aperture size can be determined based on the element-reflectance value calculated with respect to block 2004.
  • One method may include scanning a test pattern using an optical system to be tested to obtain a scan reflectance profile (SRP).
  • the test pattern may comprise at least a test element.
  • the method also includes calculating an element-reflectance value from the SRP, wherein the element-reflectance value is calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • the method includes utilizing a reference graph to interpolate an effective aperture size of the optical system to be tested, the effective aperture size corresponding to the element-reflectance value.
  • the method may further comprise the step of creating the reference graph by using known optical systems to scan the test pattern to obtain a reference SRP for each known optical system.
  • Each known optical system in this embodiment may have a known aperture diameter that is different from the aperture diameters of the other known optical systems.
  • the step of creating the reference graph may further comprise the step of calculating a reference element-reflectance value from the reference SRPs for each known optical system.
  • the reference element-reflectance values may be calculated with respect to information related to the scanned test element.
  • Creating the reference graph may also include plotting a curve showing a relationship between the reference element-reflectance values and known aperture diameters of the known optical systems.
  • the method may further include the step of creating the test pattern to include a plurality of narrow bars and wide bars, wherein the test element is a line having a width that is narrower than the width of each of the narrow bars and wide bars.
  • the narrow bars and wide bars may represent bars of a linear barcode.
  • the optical system to be tested may be a CIS, linear scan head, a laser beam, a two-dimensional sensor array (e.g., as used in a digital camera) or other sensing device.
  • the optical system may be incorporated in a barcode verifier or a bar code scanner.
  • the barcode verifier may be part of an integrated printer/verifier device.
  • the step of calculating the element-reflectance value may include the step of calculating Element Reflectance Non-uniformity, which is defined in ISO/IEC 15416.
  • the systems and methods disclosed herein are configured to obtain the native resolution from images created using a linear sensor array.
  • the native resolution is compared to the SRPs created from two or more known apertures of known metrology devices.
  • an image obtained from the optical system can be blurred mathematically using techniques to produce "synthetic" aperture sizes that are larger than the effective aperture size.
  • synthetic aperture sizes that are larger than the effective aperture size.
  • the effective aperture size would start out as 6.8 mils.
  • the optical system can then be mathematically blurred to change the 6.8-mil aperture to a 10.0-mil aperture to thereby meet the desired grade.
  • FIGS. 21-23 , 26-27 , 29-30 , 33 , 35 and 37 illustrate example flowcharts of the operations performed by various components, circuitry, and/or the like of a printing and/or verifying systems as described in FIGS. 1 , 2A-2D , 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 16 , respectively.
  • various operations described in the stated flowchart figures may be performed using components such as, but not limited to, the label printer 100, in-line indicia verifier 126, an optical system 300, printing subsystem 401, printer 700, printing and verifying device 800, 1000, barcode verifier 1600 as described in the FIGS.
  • FIGS. 21-23 , 26-27 , 29-30 , 33 , 35 and 37 are described herein as operations performed by the printing and verifying system 400 described in FIG. 4 .
  • each block of the flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the flowcharts may be implemented by various means, such as hardware, firmware, one or more processors, circuitry and/or other devices associated with execution of software including one or more computer program instructions.
  • one or more of the procedures described above may be embodied by computer program instructions.
  • the computer program instructions which embody the procedures described above may be stored by a memory of an apparatus employing an embodiment of the present invention and executed by a processor in the apparatus.
  • any such computer program instructions may be loaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus (e.g., hardware) to produce a machine, such that the resulting computer or other programmable apparatus provides for implementation of the functions specified in the flowcharts' block(s).
  • These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage memory that may direct a computer or other programmable apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage memory produce an article of manufacture, the execution of which implements the function specified in the flowcharts' block(s).
  • the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus to cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide operations for implementing the functions specified in the flowcharts' block(s).
  • the operations of Figures 21-23 , 26-27 , 29-30 , 33 , 35 and 37 when executed, convert a computer or processing circuitry into a particular machine configured to perform an example embodiment of the present invention.
  • the operations of 21-23, 26-27, 29-30, 33, 35 and 37 define an algorithm for configuring a computer or processor, to perform an example embodiment.
  • a general purpose computer may be provided with an instance of the processor which performs the algorithm of FIGS. 21-23 , 26-27 , 29-30 , 33 , 35 and 37 to transform the general purpose computer into a particular machine configured to perform an example embodiment.
  • blocks/steps of the flowchart support combinations of means for performing the specified functions and combinations of operations for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that one or more blocks of the flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
  • FIG. 21 schematically depicts a flow diagram of another method for characterizing an optical system in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to initiate a determination of effective aperture sizes applicable for different resolutions of the optical system 300.
  • characterizing of the optical system 300 may refer to calibrating or configuring the optical system 300, for example, the in-line indicia verifier 126 of the label printer 100, for scanning an image printed by the label printer 100.
  • the calibration referred herein may be initiated by the label printer 100, i.e. by the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401.
  • the calibration referred herein may be initiated by the in-line indicia verifier 126 itself, i.e. by the processing circuitry 304 of the optical system.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may initiate a process for the determination of effective aperture size based on occurrence of a "trigger condition.” For instance, in one example, the processing circuitry 304 may initiate the process based on powering ON of the optical system 300.
  • the process may get initiated each time as a user turns on a power of the optical system 300 and/or a printer device including the printing subsystem 401 in communication with the optical system 300.
  • the process may be initiated upon installation, for instance, during a configuration set up performed at the installation of the optical system 300.
  • the determination of the effective aperture size may be performed based on at least one of (i) a pre-printed calibration card used by the optical system 300 and/or (ii) a self-printed test pattern, i.e. a test pattern printed by the printing subsystem 401 associated with the optical system 300.
  • the "pre-printed calibration card" described herein may correspond to a calibration media that may be utilized during the design and or manufacture of the printer or in other embodiments, provided to customers during a purchase of a verifier device, such as the optical system 300, for configuring the verifier before a first use.
  • the pre-printed calibration card may be used during installation of the verifier with a printer device.
  • the customer can configure the verifier using the pre-printed calibration card before initiating the verification operation.
  • the pre-printed calibration card may include a test pattern 1402 printed on a media.
  • the "self-printed test pattern" may correspond to a test pattern printed on a label of a print media by the printer.
  • a customer may himself print the self-test pattern using a print media used in the printing, depending upon verification requirements of the verifier used along with the printer.
  • step 2106-1 when the determination of the effective aperture size is to be performed based on the pre-printed calibration card, the process moves to step 2106-1, where the effective aperture size is determined using the pre-printed calibration card. From step 2106-1, the method flow moves to pointer "A,” including steps of determining the effective aperture size using the pre-printed calibration card, details of which are described in connection with FIG. 22 .
  • step 2106-2 when the determination of the effective aperture size is to be performed using a "self-printed test pattern," the process moves to step 2106-2 where the effective aperture size is determined using the self-printed test pattern. From step 2106-2, the method flow moves to pointer "B,” including steps of determining the effective aperture size using the self-printed test pattern, details of which are described in connection with FIG. 23 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to access the effective aperture sizes applicable for scanning at different resolutions by the optical system 300.
  • the effective aperture sizes applicable for different resolutions may be determined using any means such as the pre-printed calibration card or the self-printed test pattern.
  • a reference table may be stored in the memory 310 and/or the memory 406 of the optical system 300 and the printing subsystem 401, respectively, and the reference table may include values of the effective aperture sizes applicable for the different resolutions at which the optical system 300 may be calibrated for scanning a printed image.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to analyze a printed image to determine verification requirements.
  • the verification requirements may be indicative of application specifications at which the optical system 300 is to be configured for scanning the printed image by a printer.
  • the verification requirements may be accessible to the printing subsystem 401 and/or the optical system 300 before scanning the printed image. For example, in some embodiments described hereinafter, a print job defined for printing the image may be analyzed by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 for determining the verification requirements.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may access a printer's image buffer including data defining specifications of one or more images to be printed by the printer.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may analyze information from the printer's image buffer to determine the verification requirements of the optical system 300.
  • the verification requirements may refer to parameters or settings at which the optical system 300 may be configured to operate.
  • the verification requirements may include at least one of (i) resolution requirements associated with different regions of the printed image (i.e. at what resolution the optical system 300 scans a region of the image for accurate verification) and (ii) characteristics such as, but not limited to, size, type etc. of at least one indicia to be printed on the printed image.
  • the printed image may be printed by the printing subsystem 401 associated with the optical system 300.
  • the method flow moves to step 2112 via pointer "C” or pointer "D," which describes process flow for determination of the verification requirements, in accordance with some example embodiments, details of which are described in FIGS. 33 and 34 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to characterize the optical system 300 for scanning the printed image.
  • the optical system 300 may be characterized based on the determined effective aperture size (at steps 2106-1 or 2106-2) and the determined verification requirements at step 2110. Characterizing the optical system 300 herein refers to adjusting the optical system 300 to operate at a defined setting, for example, at an effective aperture size or a desired resolution, for scanning the printed image for verification purposes.
  • FIG. 22 schematically depicts a flow diagram of a method 2200 for determining an effective aperture size of an optical system using pre-printed calibration card, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein. Without limiting scope of the description and for purposes of brevity, the flow diagram described in FIG. 22 may be read in accordance with description of FIGS. 19 and 20 .
  • the method 2100 may start at pointer "A" in connection with step 2106-1 after step 2104 of the method 2100 described in FIG. 21 .
  • the steps 2202-2208 may be performed if, at the step 2106, it is determined that an effective aperture size of the optical system 300 is to be determined based pre-printed calibration card.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304, to generate a scan reflectance profile (SRP) by scanning a test pattern (for example, the test pattern 1402 illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15 ) by the optical system 300.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a graphical depiction of the scan reflectance profile (SRP) 1702 that may be generated by the processing circuitry 304.
  • the test pattern scanned by the optical system 300 may correspond to a pattern printed on the pre-printed calibration card, and may include at least one test element, for example, the test element 1404 illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calculate an element-reflectance value from the SRP generated from step 2202.
  • the element-reflectance value may be calculated with respect to the at least one test element of the test pattern.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, that may receive via the communication circuitry 306 and/or the communication circuitry 404 a reference graph associated with the test pattern.
  • the reference graph may indicate two or more reference SRPs generated by two or more of reference optical sensors scanning the test pattern.
  • the one or more optical sensors referred herein have known aperture sizes.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates an example reference graph 1802 that may be received by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 at step 2206. Details of the reference graph 1802 are described in reference to FIG. 18 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calculate an effective aperture size of the optical system 300 based at least on interpolating the element-reflectance value on the reference graph.
  • means such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to calculate an effective aperture size of the optical system 300 based at least on interpolating the element-reflectance value on the reference graph.
  • Example embodiments including details of interpolation of the element-reflectance value on the reference graph are described in reference to FIGS. 16-18 .
  • FIG. 23 schematically depicts a flow diagram 2300 of a method for determining an effective aperture size of an optical system using self-printed calibration card, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • the flow diagram 2300 may start at pointer "B" in connection with step 2106-2 after step 2104 of the method 2100 described in FIG. 21 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401, to initiate printing of a first test pattern of defined specification.
  • printing of the first test pattern may be performed on a print media including one or more labels (for example the blank labels 812) used by the printer for printing.
  • the defined specification herein refers to: (i) a type of pattern (for example, chessboard type, linear barcode type, and/or the like) that may include multiple black elements and correspondingly white elements and (ii) characteristics of a pattern (for example, size of each black element and white element, orientation, shape, sequence of narrow elements and wide elements etc. ) .
  • the printing of the first pattern may be performed by a printer of the printing subsystem 401, for example, the label printer 100, the printer 700 as described in FIGS. 1 and 7 respectively.
  • FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B illustrate examples of the first test pattern that may be printed by the printing subsystem 401.
  • a test pattern 2402 may include a specification defining multiple black square boxes and white square boxes arranged in a chessboard like pattern.
  • a design of the test pattern 2402 is such that a size of each of the white square in the test pattern 2402 is identical to a size of black square in the test pattern 2402.
  • a test pattern 2404 may include multiple bars and spaces of defined specification.
  • the test pattern 2404 may include wide and narrow bars and corresponding wide and narrow spaces.
  • a design of the test pattern 2404 is such that a size of a wide white space is identical to a size of a wide black bar.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the optical system 300, to scan via one or more of the optical sensors 302 the first test pattern (for example, the test pattern 2402 or 2404 printed by the printing subsystem 401).
  • the optical system 300 may scan an image including the first test pattern printed on a label of a print media.
  • the scanning may be performed in a row by row fashion, for each row of the image as the image is being printed by the printer.
  • the scanning may be performed by the optical system 300 upon printing of the image including the first test pattern.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to analyze the scanned first test pattern to validate the scanned first test pattern according to a pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the pre-defined acceptance criterion referred herein may correspond to a condition or set of rules that dictate an optimal printing of the first pattern by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the pre-defined test criterion may define that a width of each wide white element in the first test pattern should be identical to a width of each wide black element if the first test pattern is printed by the printer. Accordingly, if, upon analyzing the scanned first test pattern, it is determined that the pre-defined test criterion is met, the first test pattern is validated. However, if it is determined that the pre-defined test criterion is not met, the first test pattern is not validated.
  • the pre-defined test criterion may include a threshold value that is to be met for the pre-defined test criterion. Further details of validating a test pattern printed by the printing subsystem 401 are described in FIGS. 26-30 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 402, to record thermal settings of the printing subsystem 401 based on the validation of the first test pattern at step 2306.
  • the thermal settings of the printing subsystem 401 herein refer to heat settings of a printhead of a printer (for instance, the printhead 708 of the printer 700) described in FIG. 7 .
  • the thermal settings of the printing subsystem 401 is recorded if the first test pattern is validated.
  • a printhead of the printer includes multiple resistive heating elements defined per inch on a substrate of the printhead (for example, 200 dots per inch (dpi), 300 dpi, and /or the like).
  • these heating elements are selectively or collectively activated for printing.
  • the heat elements of the printhead may operate at different heat settings (i.e. at a defined temperature) during a printing operation.
  • the heat settings at which the printhead operates may be manipulated depending on printing requirements. For example, to print a black bar or a black square of the test pattern 2402 and 2404 respectively, the heat settings are increased. For white square and white bars (where no printing occurs), the printhead is not heated. In this regard, the thermal settings associated with the printhead defines printing of each dot on the label of print media. Thus, for achieving a desired print quality, the printhead 708 of the printer 700 is to be configured for "optimal thermal settings" of the printhead.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead 708 can be overly increased, and an over-burn may occur during the printing.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead 708 can be overly decreased, and an under-burn may occur during the printing.
  • Either such scenario i.e. the over-burn and the under-burn
  • results in a bad printout which does not meet a print quality standards or the pre-defined test criterion (e.g., in a printed pattern black squares or narrow bars are slightly larger than respective white squares or narrow spaces).
  • the optical system 300 (such as a verifier) is operable to verify such defects resulted in the bad printouts.
  • the printhead's thermal settings are to be adjusted to avoid an under-burn or over-burn of a printout.
  • an over-burn or an under-burn of the printout would vary a thickness of a printed line. For example, if printing of a line of thickness 1.6-mils is desired, due to the thermal settings that may be high or low, the line may be printed of a thickness 1.9-mils or 1.1-mils, respectively.
  • Incorrect printing of the line on the print label due to the over-burn or the under-burn of the printout also effects scanning ofthe printed image. For instance, in some situations, a calculated effective aperture size of the optical system 300 determined for scanning a printed image may be erroneous in case of the over-burn or the under-burn in the printout. Further details of an over-burn and an under-burn by the printhead due to thermal settings are described in connection with FIGS. 25A and 25B .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401, to initiate printing of a second test pattern at the recorded thermal settings.
  • the recorded thermal settings correspond to heat settings at which the first test pattern is validated at step 2306.
  • the printing of the second test pattern is performed by the printhead 708 of the printer when the printhead 708 is operated at an optimal thermal setting.
  • the optimal thermal settings herein correspond to heat setting of the printhead 708 that results in a printout represented by first three dots 2502 in FIG. 25A (i.e. a heat setting at which, upon printing, causes neither an over-burn or an under-bur). Further details related to under-bum, over-burn, and optimal heat settings are described after description of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 23 .
  • the second test pattern printed at the recorded test settings may include a test element, for instance, the test element 1404 illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15 , respectively.
  • the test elements in the second test pattern herein may comprise a "defect line.”
  • FIG. 24C illustrates, an example of a test pattern 2400c including a test element 2402c that may be printed at step 2310 by the printing subsystem 401. Further, the number under each bar code indicates the thickness of each of test element 2402c in mils.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 402, to calibrate the optical system 300 using an effective aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • the effective aperture size of the optical system 300 may be determined based on analyzing the second test pattern.
  • the second test pattern may correspond to the test pattern 1402 described in FIGS. 14 and 15 , including the test element 1404.
  • the effective aperture size of the optical system 300 may be determined using operations described in FIGS. 19 , 20 , and 22 respectively.
  • FIGS. 25A and 25B illustrate example scenarios representing over-burn, under-burn, and optimal printing by the printhead 708.
  • FIG. 25A illustrates a print 2500 on a print label, including first three dots 2502 printed at optimal thermal settings of the printhead 708, second three dots 2504 printed due to over-burn, and third three dots 2506 printed due to under-burn.
  • the first three dots 2502 printed at the optimal thermal settings are of similar size and evenly spread in a fill up area.
  • the second three dots 2504 is are representations of over-burn, as the printout of one filling area is spread on surrounding a filling area represented as burn overlap.
  • black space is left out in respective filling areas between each dot due to the under-burn.
  • FIG. 25B illustrates results of scanning of the print 2500 of the FIG. 25A (i.e. a scanned image) by the optical system 300.
  • each print dot from amongst the first three dots 2502, the second three dots 2504, and the third three dots 2506 of round shape is represented as a square shape corresponding to pixels.
  • a portion 2502a represents pixels corresponding to the first three dots 2502 in FIG. 25A
  • a portion 2504a represents pixels corresponding to the second three dots 2504 in FIG. 25A
  • a portion 2506a represents pixels corresponding to the third three dots 2506 in FIG. 25A .
  • the portion 2504a is representative of a scan result obtained after scanning an over-burn printout (for example, the second three dots 2504) by the printhead
  • the portion 2506a is representative of a scan result obtained after scanning an under-burn printout (for example, the third three dots 2506)
  • the portion 2502a is representative of a scan result obtained after scanning an accurate printout (for example, the first three dots 2502) by the optical system 300.
  • a printed line appears dark or full black with surrounding pixels being partially grey instead of white.
  • the partial grey appearance of printed line in the portion 2504a is because of a printout bled of ink on dots adjacent to the second three dots 2504, depending on the amount of over-burn in the printout, during the printing.
  • a printed line appears dim and shows a light grey color instead of full black.
  • a line printed by the printing subsystem 401 is either too light (such as the portion 2506a realized in scanned image by the optical system 300) or too dark with grey surrounding area (such as the portion 2504a realized in scanned image by the optical system 300), it is identified that the printing performed by the printing subsystem 401 is not at optimal thermal settings, and the printed pattern is invalidated.
  • a test pattern including a test element such as the test pattern 1402
  • an ERN measurement for computing an effective aperture size would result in erroneous computation of the aperture size.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead are repeatedly adjusted (i.e. either increased or decreased until a correct pattern is printed and scanned by the optical system 300) in accordance with various example embodiments described herein. Details of adjusting the thermal settings until optimal settings are achieved are described in connection with FIG. 26 .
  • FIG. 26 schematically depicts a flow diagram 2600 of a method for characterizing an optical system using self-printed calibration card, in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 402, to print a pattern (for example, the pattern 2402 or the pattern 2404) of a defined specification.
  • the defined specification herein can be a chessboard pattern including multiple black squares and multiple white squares of identical sizes, or can be a linear pattern including narrow and wide black elements and spaces arranged in a sequence.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the optical system 300, to scan the pattern printed from step 2602.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to analyze the scanned pattern.
  • a scanned image of the pattern may include portions such as any of the portion 2502a, 2504a, 2506a illustrated in FIG. 25B .
  • the pattern (printed by the printing subsystem 401 at step 2602 and scanned by the optical system 300 at step 2604) may be validated based on the analyzing the scanned pattern.
  • analyzing of the scanned pattern may include analyzing SRP of the scanned image and determining an element reflectance value using techniques as described in FIGS. 14-20 .
  • validation of the printed pattern represents printing of the pattern that meets a pre-defined acceptance criterion, for example, a print quality parameter based on a printing standard.
  • the processing circuitry 402 and/or the processing circuitry 304 may validate the printed pattern, if, upon analyzing a scan of the printed pattern, it is determined that each black bar in the printed pattern is of an identical size as of each white space in the printed pattern.
  • the printed pattern may be validated if, upon analyzing a scan of the printed pattern, it is determined, that a printout by the printing subsystem 401 includes black bars having sizes in a range from about +2% of the size of the white spaces to about %2 of the size of the white spaces and vice versa.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, that determine whether the printed pattern is valid or invalid. If it is determined that the printed pattern is not valid at step 2608, the method flows to step 2616.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to adjust thermal settings of the printer.
  • the thermal settings referred herein may represent heat settings associated with a printhead (for example the printhead 708) of a printer (the printer 700).
  • the thermal settings may correspond to a temperature value up to which one or more heating elements of the printhead 708 are to be heated.
  • adjusting the thermal settings may include one of increasing or decreasing the heat settings of the printhead 708.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead are interchangeably referred hereinafter as the thermal settings of the printing subsystem 401 throughout the description.
  • steps 2602, 2604, 2608 and 2612 are repeated until the printed pattern gets validated at step 2606 and the validation of the printed pattern is determined at step 2608.
  • step 2608 if it is determined that the pattern is validated, the method flows to step 2610, where the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 records thermal settings of the printer. Further, at step 2612, a scannable test pattern is printed by the printing subsystem 401. In this aspect, the scannable test pattern is printed by the printing subsystem 401 based on configuring the printhead to operate at the recorded thermal settings.
  • the scannable test pattern referred herein corresponds to a self-printed calibration card, and may include a test element. In accordance with some example embodiments, the scannable test pattern may correspond to the pattern 1402, including at least the test elements 1404.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calibrate the optical system 300 using an effective aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • the effective aperture size is determinedbased on analyzing the scannable test pattern printed at step 2612. Details related to determination of the effective aperture size based on scanning and analyzing a test pattern including a test element are described in reference to FIGS. 14-20 .
  • FIG. 27 schematically depicts a flow diagram 2700 of a method for characterizing an optical system, such as the optical system 300, using self-printed calibration card in accordance with some example embodiments described herein.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to initiate printing of a first test pattern of a defined specification.
  • the first test pattern referred herein may correspond to the pattern 2404 illustrated in FIG. 24B that includes multiple wide black elements 2405 (or bars), multiple wide white elements 2407 (or spaces), multiple narrow black elements 2406, and multiple narrow white elements 2408 respectively.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the optical system 300, to scan the first test pattern, for instance the test pattern 2404.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to generate a SRP of the first test pattern 2404 scanned at the step 2704.
  • the SRP of the first test pattern 2404 referred herein is indicative of a profile of reflectance values sensed by one or more optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300.
  • the SRP 1702 may correspond to a SRP of the second test pattern and the SRP 2802a may correspond to the a SRP of the first test pattern.
  • the SRP of a test pattern may correspond to the SRP 1702 illustrated in FIG. 17 .
  • FIGS. 28A, 28B , and 28C also illustrate example SRPs with scanned lines that may be generated by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 upon scanning different test patterns by the optical system 300.
  • the SRP are plots of position versus reflectance, where reflectance is in the units of digital grayscale values where 0 is perfect black, i.e., zero reflectance, and 255 is pure white, e.g., as related to a national reflectance standard.
  • the different test patterns for which the respective SRPs are illustrated in FIGS. 28A, 28B , and 28C are printed at different thermal settings of a printhead of the printer.
  • SRP 2802a may be generated upon scanning the first test pattern 2404, where the first test pattern 2404 is printed at a first thermal setting of the printing subsystem 401.
  • SRP 2802b may be generated upon scanning the test pattern 2404, where the first test pattern 2404 is printed at a second thermal setting of the printing subsystem 401.
  • the SRP 2802a includes multiple crests 2804a-1 to 2804a-7 and multiple troughs 2806a-1 to 2806a-6.
  • the SRP 2802b includes multiple crests 2804b-1, to 2804b-7 and multiple troughs 2806b-1 to 2806b-6.
  • each of the crests 2804a-1 to 2804a-7 and crests 2804b-1 to 2804b-7 represents a maximum value of reflectance sensed by respective optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300, upon a full scan of the test pattern 2404.
  • each of the troughs 2806a-1 to 2806a-6 and the troughs 2806b-1 to 2806b-6 represents a minimum reflectance value sensed by the respective optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300.
  • a part of the SRP 2802a formed by the crests 2804a-1, 2804a-2, 2804a-6, and 2804a-7 and troughs 2806a-1, 2806a-2, and 2806a-6, corresponds to reflectance values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the wide white elements 2407 and wide black elements 2405 respectively of the test pattern 2404.
  • a wide element center position 2810a represents a midpoint of the reflectance values of the wide white elements 2407 and wide black elements 2405 respectively.
  • FIG. 28A a part of the SRP 2802a, formed by the crests 2804a-1, 2804a-2, 2804a-6, and 2804a-7 and troughs 2806a-1, 2806a-2, and 2806a-6, corresponds to reflectance values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the wide white elements 2407 and wide black elements 2405 respectively of the test pattern 2404.
  • a wide element center position 2810a represents a midpoint of
  • a part of the SRP 2802b corresponds to reflectance values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the wide white and black elements 2407 and 2405 respectively of the test pattern 2404 printed at a different heat setting.
  • reflectance value 2810b is the midpoint of the reflectance values of the narrow white elements 2408 and the narrow black elements 2406 respectively.
  • a part 2812a of the SRP 2802a is the midpoint in reflectance formed by the crests 2804a-3, 2804a-4, and 2804a-5, and troughs 2806a-3, 2806a-4, and 2806a-5, corresponds to values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the narrow white elements 2408 and narrow black elements 2406 respectively of the test pattern 2404.
  • FIG. 28A a part 2812a of the SRP 2802a is the midpoint in reflectance formed by the crests 2804a-3, 2804a-4, and 2804a-5, and troughs 2806a-3, 2806a-4, and 2806a-5, corresponds to values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the narrow white elements 2408 and narrow black elements 2406 respectively of the test pattern 2404.
  • a part 2808b of the SRP 2804b corresponds to values sensed by the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning the narrow white elements 2408 and narrow black elements 2406 respectively of the test pattern 2404.
  • the SRP 2802a represents a scan profile of the first test pattern 2404 that is printed as a light printout when compared to the SRP 2802b that represents a scan profile of the first test pattern 2404 that is printed as a dark printout from the printing subsystem 401 ( i.e. the first thermal settings at which the first test pattern 2404 is printed by the printing subsystem 401 is lower than the second thermal settings at which the first test pattern 2404 is printed by the printing subsystem 401).
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to measure a narrow element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the narrow elements in the SRP.
  • FIGS. 28A and 28B illustrate a narrow element center reflectance position 2808a and another narrow element center reflectance position 2808b corresponding to the SRPs 2802a and 2802b, respectively.
  • the narrow element center position 2808a represents a median reflectance value of the part of the SRP 2802a that corresponds to the crests 2804a-3, 2804a-4, and 2804a-5 and troughs 2806a-3, 2806a-4, and 2806a-5, generated upon scanning the narrow black and white elements 2406 and 2408 respectively of the test pattern 2404 printed at the first thermal settings.
  • the narrow element center position 2808b represents a median reflectance value of the part of the SRP 2802b that corresponds to the crests 2804b-3, 2804b-4, and 2804b-5, and troughs 2806b-3, 2806b-4, and 2806b-5, generated upon scanning the narrow black and white elements 2406 and 2408 respectively of the test pattern 2404 printed at the second thermal settings.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to measure a wide element center position indicative of a median reflectance value of the wide elements in the SRP.
  • FIGS. 28A and 28B illustrates a wide element center position 2810a and another wide element center position 2810b corresponding to the SRPs 2802a and 2802b, respectively.
  • the wide element center position 2810a represents a median value of the part of the SRP 2802a that corresponds to the crests 2804a-1, 2804a-2, 2804a-6, and 2804a-7, and troughs 2806a-1, 2806a-2, and 2806a-6, generated upon scanning the wide elements 2405 and 2407 of the test pattern 2404 printed at the first thermal settings.
  • the wide element center position 2810b represents a median value of the part of the SRP 2802b that corresponds to the crests 2804b-1, 2804b-2, 2804b-6, and 2804b-7, and troughs 2806b-1, 2806b-2, and 2806b-6, generated upon scanning the wide elements 2405 and 2407 of the test pattern 2404 printed at the second thermal settings.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to compare a narrow element center reflectance position of a SRP with a wide element center reflectance position of the SRP.
  • step 2712 of FIG. 27 includes comparison of the narrow element center reflectance position 2808a with the wide element center reflectance position 2810a of the SRP 2802a.
  • step 2712 of FIG. 27 includes comparison of the narrow element center reflectance position 2808b with the wide element center reflectance position 2810b of the SRP 2802b.
  • the value of the narrow element center reflectance position 2808a is greater than value of the wide element center reflectance position 2810a.
  • value of the narrow element center reflectance position 2808b is lower than value of the wide element center reflectance position 2810b.
  • the narrow element center position 2808a is a grayscale value of 153 which is greater than the value 132.6 of the wide element center reflectance position 2810a.
  • the narrow element center position 2808b is a grayscale value of 102 which is lower than the value 132.6 of the wide element center reflectance position 2810b.
  • thermal settings i.e. heat settings of the resistive elements of printhead of a printing system
  • the optimum level of the thermal settings of the printhead represents heat settings of the printhead at which an indicia printed by the thermal printer includes wide and narrow white spaces and bars.
  • a printout of an indicia including linear white spaces and bars generated by the printing subsystem 401 is lighter, i.e.
  • the average midpoint reflectance of the narrow elements in the indicia is greater than the average midpoint reflectance of the wide elements in the indicia. Accordingly, in another case, where the thermal settings of the printhead is greater than an optimum level, a printout of the indicia generated by the printing subsystem 401 is darker, i.e. an average midpoint of the narrow elements is greater than an average midpoint of the wide elements in the indicia. Thus, if an indicia is printed with identical average midpoint reflectance values of the wide and narrow elements, the thermal settings of the printhead is to be at the optimum level.
  • the part 2812a corresponding to a scan profile of the narrow black elements 2406 and narrow white elements 2408 is shifted upwards i.e. closer towards reflectance values of the wide space crests 2804a-1, 2804a-2, 2804-a-6, and 2804a-7.
  • the part 2812b of the SRP 2802b is shifted downwards, i.e. closer towards reflectance values of the troughs 2806b-1, 2806b-2, and 2806b-6, which are caused by scanning the wide white elements 2407.
  • the printing subsystem 401 can print an ideal and repeatable calibration pattern.
  • the ideal calibration pattern herein represents a pattern in which: (i) size of each narrow black element is to be identical with size of each narrow white element and (ii) size of each wide black element is to be identical with size of each wide white element.
  • a printout of the ideal calibration pattern concords with printing of the first three dots 2502 illustrated in FIG. 25A .
  • a scan result i.e. scanned pixels' concords with the pixels of the portion 2502a, is illustrated in FIG. 25B .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to validate the scanned first test pattern 2404 in response to determining that a narrow element center position of the SRP is equal to the wide element center position based on the comparison performed at step 2712.
  • FIG. 28C illustrates a scenario where a line 2814c represents a narrow element center position and a wide element center position that are identical to each other in the SRP 2802c.
  • the line 2814c represents a median pixel value 132.6 that corresponds to both narrow element center position and the wide element center position of the SRP 2802c
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to record thermal settings of the printer based on the validation of the first test pattern 2404.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead i.e. heat settings of the printhead at which the first test pattern is validated
  • the thermal settings of the printhead may be stored in the memory 310 or 406 of the optical system 300 and the printing subsystem 401, respectively.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to initiate printing of a second test pattern.
  • the second test pattern is printed at the thermal settings of the printhead recorded at step 2716.
  • the second test pattern represents pattern to be printed on a self-printed calibration card for calibrating the optical system 300.
  • the recorded thermal settings are considered optimal because the comparison performed at step 2712 results in determining of the narrow element center position to be equal to the wide element center position.
  • the second test pattern printed at the step 2716 is printed at a thermal printhead setting that is optimal, reproducible and consistent, regardless of the type of media used to print the test patterns.
  • the second test pattern may include a test element that may be used for calibrating the optical system 300.
  • the second test pattern may correspond to the pattern 2400c including the test element 2402c (e.g., a very skinny bar that is substantially narrower than the smallest elements in the bar code symbol) ), as illustrated in FIG. 24C .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calibrate the optical system 300 using the second test pattern i.e. a self-printed test pattern.
  • the optical system 300 may be calibrated for an effective aperture size and a defined resolution to scan the printed image using the second test pattern.
  • the second test pattern may be analyzed using the techniques described in FIGS. 16-21 for determining an effective aperture size for which the optical system 300 may be calibrated.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine that the narrow element center reflectance position is not equal to the wide element center position, and additional steps may be triggered. For instance, in one example embodiment, a notification such as a visual notification, an audio command, a sound and/or the like may be generated by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to indicate an adjustment of the thermal settings of the printhead. Alternatively, in another example embodiment, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may automatically initiate an adjustment of the thermal settings of the printhead of the printing subsystem 401, as described at step 2612 of FIG. 26 . In this aspect, in such cases, the thermal settings of the printhead may be adjusted, i.e. increased or decreased, and the steps 2702-2712 may be repeated until a test pattern scanned by the optical system 300 is validated.
  • a notification such as a visual notification, an audio command, a sound and/or the like may be generated by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the
  • FIG 29 schematically depicts a flow diagram 2900 of a method for characterizing an optical system, such as the optical system 300, using self-printed calibration card in accordance with another example embodiment described herein.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to initiate printing of a first test pattern of a defined specification.
  • the first test pattern referred herein may correspond to the pattern 2402 illustrated in FIG. 24A that includes a two-dimensional pattern of alternating black and white squares, e.g., a chessboard pattern. Other similar patterns, e.g., a 2D matrix symbology barcode, can be used. In this pattern, the thermal energy is adjusted so that the white squares and black squares are the same size prior to recording the management settings and creating a second test pattern.
  • the first test pattern referred herein may correspond to the pattern 2404 illustrated in FIG. 24B that includes multiple wide black elements 2405, multiple wide white elements 2407 (or spaces), multiple narrow black elements 2406, and multiple narrow white elements 2408, respectively.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the optical system 300, to scan the first test pattern, for instance the test pattern 2404.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to determine a first width of at least one space in the first test pattern.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine widths of one or more of the wide black elements 2405 in the test pattern 2404.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may also determine widths corresponding to one or more narrow black elements 2406 in the test pattern 2404.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 determines a second width of at least one space in the first test pattern. For example, in said embodiment, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine widths of one or more of the wide white elements 2407 in the test pattern 2404. Similarly, in another example, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine widths corresponding to one or more narrow white elements 2408 in the test pattern 2404. Details pertaining to steps 2906 and 2908, i.e. the determination of the first width and the second width of the at least one space and at least one bar in the test pattern respectively, are described in reference to FIGS. 30 and 31 .
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may compare the first width determined from step 2906 with the second width determined from step 2908 to validate the first test pattern according to a pre-defined acceptance criterion.
  • the pre-defined acceptance criterion may be that width of each wide white space of the first test pattern is to be of an identical size to size of each wide black bar.
  • the pre-defined acceptance criterion may be that width of each narrow white space of the first test pattern is to be of an identical size to size of each narrow black bar.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may validate the test pattern 2404 if width of each of the wide black elements 2405 is identical to width of wide white elements 2407. Similarly, in another example, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may validate the test pattern 2404, if width of each of the narrow black elements 2406 is identical to width of narrow white elements 2408.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to record thermal settings of the printer based on the validation of the first test pattern 2404.
  • the thermal settings of the printhead i.e. heat settings of the printhead at which the first test pattern is validated
  • the thermal settings of the printhead may be stored in the memory 310 or 406 of the optical system 300 and the printing subsystem 401, respectively.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to initiate printing of a second test pattern.
  • the second test pattern is printed at the thermal settings of the printhead recorded at step 2716.
  • the second test pattern represents a pattern to be printed on a self-printed calibration card for calibrating the optical system 300.
  • the second test pattern may be printed based on the first test pattern itself, i.e. the second test pattern may include a test element inserted between spaces and bars of the first test pattern.
  • the second test pattern may be altogether a new pattern having bars and spaces of a specification different than the first test pattern along with a test element.
  • the second test pattern may correspond to the pattern 2400c including the test element 2402c, as illustrated in FIG. 24C .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calibrate the optical system 300 using the second test pattern.
  • the second test pattern may be analyzed using the techniques described in FIGS. 16-21 for determining an effective aperture size for which the optical system 300 may be calibrated.
  • step 2910 if at the comparison of step 2910, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 determines that the first width determined at step 2906 is not equal to the second width determined at step 2908, additional steps may be triggered.
  • a notification such as a visual notification, an audio command, a sound and/or the like, may be generated by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to indicate an adjustment of the thermal settings of the printhead.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may automatically initiate an adjustment of the thermal settings of the printhead of the printing subsystem 401, as described at step 2612 of FIG. 26 .
  • the thermal settings of the printhead may be adjusted (i.e. increased or decreased), and the steps 2902-2910 may be repeated automatically until a test pattern scanned by the optical system 300 is validated.
  • FIG. 30 schematically depicts a flow diagram of a method 3000 for determining respective widths of at least one space and at least one bar in a test pattern of a self-printed calibration card used for characterizing an optical system (such as the optical system 300) in accordance with another example embodiment described herein.
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the optical system 300, to scan a test pattern.
  • the optical system 300 may scan the test pattern 2404 illustrated in FIG. 24 .
  • the printing and verifying system 400 includes means, such as the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402, to calculate a threshold value indicative of a median reflectance value in a SRP of the test pattern scanned from step 3002.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to calculate a threshold value indicative of a median reflectance value in a SRP of the test pattern scanned from step 3002.
  • FIG. 31 an example SRP 3100 generated by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 upon scanning the test pattern 2404 is illustrated.
  • the SRP 3100 represents values in pixels corresponding to reflectance from the test pattern 2404 (on the Y axis, in this case with units of 0 to 255) sensed by the one or more optical sensors 302 upon scanning the test pattern 2404 over time or distance (represented on X axis).
  • a midpoint or median SRP 3102 reflectance value is plotted over the SRP 3100.
  • a maximum pixel value 247 is scanned by the optical system 300 and a minimum pixel value 2 is scanned by the optical system 300, therefore the midpoint is 124.5 (e.g., (max + min) / 2).
  • the median SRP 3102 is a threshold representative of values of mid-points between whitest and darkest pixels scanned by the optical system 300.
  • a portion 3104 of the SRP 3100 above the median SRP 3102 is representative of pixel values belonging to white area in the test pattern 2404, for example, area belonging to the wide white elements 2407 and/or the narrow white elements 2408 in the test pattern 2404.
  • a portion 3106 of the SRP 3100 below the median SRP 3102 is representative of pixel values belonging to black area in the test pattern 2404, for example, area belonging to the wide black elements 2405 and/or the narrow black elements 2406 in the test pattern 2404.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify a first set of pixels corresponding to at least one space in the test pattern where a corresponding SRP value is greater than the threshold value, i.e. the median SRP 3102. Accordingly, at step 3008, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify a second set of pixels corresponding to at least one bar in the test pattern where a corresponding SRP value is less than the threshold value, i.e. the median SRP 3102.
  • all pixel values that are above the median SRP 3102 may correspond to the first set of pixels, and all pixel values that are below the median SRP 3102 may correspond to the second set of pixels.
  • the first set of pixels may represent pixel values corresponding to scanning of white area in the test pattern, such as the wide white elements 2407 and narrow white elements 2408 of the test pattern 2404.
  • the second set of pixels may represent pixel values corresponding to scanning of black area in the test pattern such as, the wide black elements 2405 and the narrow black elements 2406 in the test pattern 2404.
  • a count of the first set of pixels and a count of the second set of the pixels may be used for determining a consistent and reproducible heat setting for the white elements and the black elements respectively in the test pattern.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may compare a first count of the first set of pixels and a second count of the second set of pixels. In this regard, in an example embodiment, upon identifying the first set of pixels corresponding to the white elements, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may validate the test pattern in an instance when, based on the comparison, it is identified that the first count is identical to the second count. In another example embodiment, the processing circuitry 402 may validate the test pattern if a difference between the first count and the second count is within a pre-defined range.
  • steps 2912-2916 of the flow diagram 2900 may be performed.
  • the thermal settings of the printing subsystem may be adjusted, and steps 2612-2606 may be performed until a test pattern printed by the printing subsystem 401 is validated.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may utilize a table.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine a pixel value difference from one pixel and a neighboring pixel in a scan profile from the table.
  • the table may store values of pixel 3206 representing reflectance values sensed by each of the one or more optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 upon scanning a printed image including the test pattern, such as the test pattern 2404.
  • a table 3200 may be accessed by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 that may include a range of pixel values 3204 of pixels 3206 represented as P0, P1, P2, .... Pn for a portion 3202 (and correspondingly for all similar portions of the test pattern).
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine differences 3208 between the respective pixel and an adjacent pixel, for example differences 3208 such as, (P 0 -P 1 ), (P 1 -P 2 ) ... (P n-1 - P n ) for the portion 3202 (and all such portions of the test pattern).
  • the differences 3208 between values of neighboring pixels in the table may be used to determine an average value 3210 representing an average of values corresponding to the differences 3208 stored in the table 3200.
  • the average value 3210 "57.75" represents an average computed from the differences 3208 having values 0, 9, 44, 166, 13, 9, ...., 16.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine flags 3212 indicating if the respective pixel corresponds to a white element or a black element in the test pattern.
  • the determination of the flags 3212 may be based on identifying if a value of the differences 3208 for respective pixels 3206 is greater than or smaller than the average value 3210.
  • a pixel P 0 from the pixels 3206 is flagged as either “white” or “black” if the value of the respective difference 3208 is smaller than the average value 3210.
  • a pixel P 3 from the pixels 3206 is flagged as changing from “black” to “white” or vice versa if the value of the respective difference 3208 is greater than the average value 3210.
  • pixel P 1 is flagged as “white” because it has a high reflectance value and P 1 remains as “white”, as the difference 3208 value "9” is lower than the average value 3210 "57.75.”
  • Pixel P 3 is flagged as "black” as the difference 3208 value "166” is greater than average value 3210 "57.75.”
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may then determine a first count of pixels from the pixels 3206 that are flagged as "white” and a second count of pixels from the pixels 3206 that are flagged as “black.” The first count and the second count may then be compared as described at step 3010 of FIG. 30 to validate the test pattern.
  • FIG. 33 schematically depicts a flow diagram of a method 3300 for characterizing an optical system such as the optical system 300 based on characteristics of an image to be printed, in accordance with some example embodiments.
  • the method 3300 may start from pointer C that in connection with step 2110 after the step 2108 described in FIG. 21 .
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 analyzes a printed image or an image to be printed to determine different verification requirements for scanning the printed image by the optical system 300.
  • steps 3302-3306 of the method 3300 may be performed.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may receive a reference table indicating a plurality of aperture sizes of the optical system 300 and a plurality of corresponding resolutions of the plurality of aperture sizes.
  • FIG. 34 illustrates an example reference table 3400 that may be received by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 at step 3302.
  • the reference table 3400 includes values of aperture sizes such as, 8.8 mils, 4.7 mils, 2.4 mils, respectively applicable for different values of the resolution, i.e. 300 dpi, 600 dpi, 1200 dpi, at which the optical system 300 may scan a printed image.
  • the different effective aperture sizes in the reference table 3400 can be computed based on techniques described in reference to FIGS. 17-22 (i.e. based on creating a reference graph and utilizing the reference graph to interpolate effective aperture sizes of the optical system 300).
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may receive characteristics data of at least one indicia to be printed on a print media.
  • FIG. 36A illustrates an example image 3600a that is to be printed by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the image 3600a includes for example, background text and graphics 3602, such as text corresponding to address of logistics, date etc.
  • the image 3600a also include one or more indicia, for example, a linear barcode (e.g., Code 128) 3604, a QR code (e.g., Data Matrix) 3606, text characters 3602 and/or the like.
  • a linear barcode e.g., Code 128
  • QR code e.g., Data Matrix
  • the characteristics data of the image may include at least a size of the at least one indicia that is to be printed on a label of the print media.
  • the characteristics data may correspond to a size of the average narrow bar and space of the linear barcode 3604.
  • information from the printer's image buffer including one or more print jobs that defines characteristics of items such as, but not limited to, text, barcodes, QR codes, etc. to be printed on the label. These information may be utilized for determining the characteristics data.
  • a print job defined for printing the image 3600a including the linear barcode 3604 and the QR code 3606 may be analyzed to determine the characteristics data such as, but not limited to, a feature size of the linear barcode 3604 or a size of the QR code 3606, e.g., the X-dimension.
  • the characteristics data may also include determining a type of an indicia to be printed.
  • these characteristics associated with the images to be printed on a label of the print media are known to the printing subsystem 401 ( i.e. before printing or at the time of printing) before the optical system 300 scans the printed image because it is what the printer is programmed to print.
  • these characteristics of a reference image are determined based on accessing information such as, but not limited to, the print job in an image buffer of a thermal printer.
  • accessing information such as, but not limited to, the print job in an image buffer of a thermal printer.
  • data related to printing of images may be analyzed to determine a size of the indicia that is to be printed next on a label of the print media by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine that a linear barcode of X-dimension size 3 mils is to be printed on the print media.
  • the determination of the characteristics data associated with the printed image may be performed at a run-time, i.e. at a time of printing a printed image and/or scanning the printed image to determine a required effective aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may determine an applicable aperture size of the optical system 300 based on the reference table and the characteristics data from step 3304. This determination may be performed using information of the printing subsystem 401 according to an application standard. For example, a 10-mil X-dimension barcode in the image to be printed and scanned by the optical system 300 (in accordance with an application standard) may need a 6-mil aperture size of the optical system 300. Similarly, same barcode, i.e. 10-milX-dimension barcode in the image without an application standard, may require 8-mil aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • the physical aperture size of each of one or more optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 can be increased into a virtual aperture size by changing mathematically a resolution at which the optical system 300 scans the printed image.
  • the physical aperture size of the optical system 300 can be adjusted to different virtual aperture sizes that are greater than the physical aperture at which scanning of the printed image is desired.
  • an effective aperture size of the optical system 300 may be changed and/or interpolated to another value by changing a resolution such that the optical system 300 may be operated at different virtual aperture sizes irrespective of one physical aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • a verifier for example, the optical system 300
  • a verifier can be configured to operate at a desired resolution and aperture size before scanning the printed image.
  • any of the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 can automatically select an appropriate resolution for an optimal physical aperture size according the barcode size, and therefore provide a more accurate and repeatable barcode verification grade.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may also utilize other techniques such as "software blurring”, “circular blurring” and the like to effect small changes to the aperture size for the closest possible desired aperture size with the least variation from an ideal aperture size.
  • FIG. 35 schematically depicts a flow diagram of a method 3500 for characterizing an optical system (such as the optical system 300) based on characteristics of an image to be printed, in accordance with some example embodiments.
  • the method 3300 may start from pointer D in connection with step 2110 after step 2108 described in FIG. 21 .
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 analyzes a printed image and/or an image to be printed to determine different verification requirements for scanning the printed image or the image to be printed by the optical system 300.
  • steps 3502-3506 of the method 3500 may be performed to determine verification requirements associated with regions of the printed image.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may receive characteristics data associated with an image to be printed on a print media.
  • the characteristics data may be associated with at least one indicia on the image, and may be received based on analyzing a reference image. For example, a candidate image in the image buffer of the memory 406 of the printing subsystem 401 (which is to be printed next by the printing subsystem 401) may be analyzed to receive the characteristics data.
  • the characteristic data may be determined based on accessing information available within the printing subsystem 401 (for example, but not limited to, one or more print jobs defining the image to be printed in an image buffer of a thermal printer).
  • the receiving of the characteristics may also include identifying of a type of information (such as, text, barcode, etc. ) present in the image to be printed.
  • a type of information such as, text, barcode, etc.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify the to be printed image 3600a that includes different types of information, such as the background text and graphics 3602, the linear barcode 3604, the QR code 3606, and/or other types of content.
  • the characteristic data may also include different parameters such as, but not limited to, resolutions requirements associated with different regions of the image in order to meet a desired scan quality.
  • the characteristics data may correspond to resolution requirements of the optical system 300 for scanning regions including each type of information, such as the background text and graphics 3602, the linear barcode 3604, the QR code 3606 that is to be printed in the image 3600a.
  • information about different areas is accessible to at least one of the processing circuitry 304 of the optical system 300 and/or the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify at least, a first region, a second region, a third region, and/or the like of the image based on the characteristics data determined at step 3502. For example, in one embodiment, referring to FIG. 36B , the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify a first region 3602b, a second region 3604b, a third region 3606b, and/or the like in the image 3600b. In this aspect, the first region 3602b, the second region 3604b, and the third region 3606b may be identified based on the characteristic data, such as resolution requirements associated with scanning the respective regions or a type of information to be printed in the respective regions.
  • the printed image is to be scanned by the optical system 300 having an "effective aperture size" at a "defined resolution.”
  • a 10-mil aperture size of an optical system 300 of 300 dpi resolution scan capability may be applicable for scanning the first region 3602b of the image 3600b that includes only text; whereas a 15 mils aperture size of an optical system 300 of a 600 dpi resolution scan capability may be applicable for scanning the second region 3604b of the image 3600b that includes a linear barcode.
  • an optical system of resolution capability 1200 dpi may be required for scanning the third region 3606b.
  • the first region 3602b (including the background text and graphics) may be scanned by an optical system 300 at a lower resolution when compared to a resolution required for scanning the second region 3604b (including the linear barcode 3604b or the third region 3606b including the QR code 3606b).
  • the second region 3604b (including the linear barcode 3604b) may be scanned by an optical system 300 at a lower resolution compared to a resolution required for scanning the third region 3606b (including the QR code 3606b).
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify various regions such as, but not limited to, the first region 3602b, the second region 3604b, the third region 3606b, based on resolution requirements of scanning the image 3600b when printed on the print media.
  • the first region 3602b may be identified to be scanned at a lower resolution by the optical system 300
  • the second region 3604b may be identified to be scanned at a medium resolution by the optical system 300
  • the third region 3606b may be identified to be scanned at a high resolution by the optical system 300.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may select a first effective aperture size and a second effective aperture size of the optical system 300 for scanning different regions in the printed image.
  • the "effective" aperture size referred herein corresponds to an aperture size of the optical system 300 at which an indicia (such as, but not limited to, a barcode, an OCRB or a QR code etc. ) on a printed image can be scanned accurately for verification of the printed image according to a print quality standard.
  • the selection of aperture size may be based on a resolution setting at which the optical system 300 is desired to scan a region of the image. For example, using a reference table, the first effective aperture size may be selected for scanning the first region 3602b and the second effective aperture size may be selected for scanning the second region 3604b.
  • the reference table referred herein may include multiple effective aperture sizes and multiple resolutions corresponding to the respective aperture sizes.
  • FIG. 34 illustrates an example reference table 3400 that may be accessed by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 for selecting the first effective aperture size and the second effective aperture size of the optical system 300.
  • the different effective aperture sizes and different resolutions applicable for each of the respective aperture size in the reference table can be computed based on techniques described earlier in reference to FIGS. 17-22 (i.e. based on creating a reference graph and utilizing the reference graph to interpolate effective aperture sizes of the optical system 300).
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may initiate a characterization of the optical system 300.
  • the characterization of the optical system 300 includes calibrating the optical system 300 for scanning the printed images.
  • the optical system 300 can be configured to scan (a) the first region 3602b of the printed image 3600b at the first aperture size based on a first resolution, (b) the second region 3604b of the printed image 3600b at the second aperture size based on a second resolution, and (c) the third region 3606b of the printed image 3600b at the third aperture size based on a third resolution.
  • outputs of one or more optical sensors of a verifier may be combined based on a resolution requirements for scanning a respective region within the printed image.
  • the optical system 300 configures a physical aperture of the one of more optical sensors 302 such that two or more sensor elements are combined, i.e., averaged, to be a larger desired aperture using techniques such as "pixel binning" so as to minimize a required mathematical image processing requirement in order to produce the relevant print quality analysis and or other printer functional analysis.
  • the processing circuitry 304 of the optical system 300 may itself initiate combination of output signals of the one or more individual optical sensors 302, such that signal values representing a combination of sensor outputs are accessed by the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401 and stored in the memory 406.
  • the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401 may access signal values corresponding to each of the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300, which may be stored in the memory 406.
  • the processing circuitry 402 may access from the memory 406 the signal values, and thereafter perform combination of the signal values before initiating an image processing operation related to verification of the print media. In other words, prior to verification or other image analysis, an amount of image data to be processed is minimized to be only what is required for each region of the printed label, thereby maximizing printer and verification throughput.
  • FIG. 37 schematically depicts a flow diagram of a method 3700 for characterizing the optical system 300 and improving image processing efficiency based on resolution requirements of different regions in a printed image, in accordance with some example embodiments.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may access characteristics data associated with an image to be printed by the printing subsystem 401.
  • the characteristics data may include one or more resolution requirements for scanning different regions of the image to be printed.
  • the to-be-printed images 3600a and 3600b may include one or more regions having different types of information to be printed.
  • the resolution requirements may correspond to a minimum resolution at which the optical system 300 may be operable to effectively scan the respective region.
  • the first region 3602b of the image 3600b may be required to be scanned at a low resolution such as, but not limited to, a 300 dpi or 400 dpi configuration for the optical system 300, whereas, the second region 3604b may require scanning at a medium resolution like, but not limited to a 600 dpi configuration of the optical system.
  • the third region 3606b including the 10-mil QR code may require scanning at a high resolution such as a 1200 dpi configuration of the optical system.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may derive the characteristics data based on analyzing information within the printing subsystem 401 as described above, for instance, by analyzing one or more print jobs defining specification of the image to be printed.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify different regions of the images 3600a and 3600b based on the characteristics data associated with the respective regions. For instance, in one example embodiment, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify at least, the first region 3602b and the second region 3604b of the image 3600b based on the characteristics data such as, the resolution requirements described at the step 3702. Additionally and/or alternatively, the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify the third region 3606b and more such regions of the image 3600b based on the characteristics data associated with each of the respective regions.
  • these regions may be boxed on a display associated with the printing subsystem.
  • each of the first region 3602b, the second region 3604b, the third region 3606b may be visually demarcated in the printed image 3600b.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may flag each of these regions depending upon a resolution activity associated with the respective regions.
  • the first region 3602b may be flagged as a "low-resolution activity region” as no specific text analysis is required to be performed at such regions and where a lower resolution scan is suitable for printer diagnostics functions.
  • the second region 3604b may be flagged as a "medium resolution activity region” as some text processing (such as optical character recognition (OCR)) may be required to be performed at such regions.
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • the third region 3606b may be flagged as a "high-resolution activity region” as the small feature size, e.g., X-dimension, requires high resolution image processing and decoding of data upon scanning of such region.
  • the low-resolution activity region of the image 3600b may correspond to such regions that include information pertaining to diagnoses functions (such as, information used by a printer's verifier device for determining printhead contamination and various ribbon malfunctions (e.g. ribbon wrinkle)).
  • the medium-resolution activity region of the image 3600b may correspond to regions that include information such as linear barcode or 2D barcodes with X-dimensions greater than 15 mils.
  • high resolution activity region of the image 3600b may correspond to regions that include information such as a QR Code or 2D barcodes with X-dimensions smaller than 10 mils or 1D barcodes with X-dimensions less than 7 mils.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may extend a boundary of a region identified at step 3704 to a full width of a label of the print media when the information pertaining to the identified region meets a threshold.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may extend the boundary of an identified region to full width of a label of the print media when the information pertaining to the identified region is greater than 80% of a full width of the label.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may extend the boundary of the initially identified first region 3602b to a region 3608b which covers a full width of the label.
  • the optical system 300 may be calibrated to scan at least a region of the image at a default resolution settings of the optical system 300. For instance, if the optical system 300 is by default configured to scan at 1200 dpi resolution settings, instead of scanning the full image at the default resolution settings (i.e. 1200 dpi), the optical system 300 may scan only some regions of the image 3600b (for example, only the high-resolution activity regions) at such default resolution settings. Referring to FIG. 36B , in an example embodiment, the optical system 300 may be calibrated to scan at least one of the third region 3606b (including the QR code) at a 1200 dpi default resolution settings of the optical system 300. In another example embodiment, the optical system 300 may be calibrated to scan the second region 3604b including the linear barcode at 600 dpi by binning two pixels of the sensor, either in the optical sensor itself or after transmission to memory but before image processing occurs.
  • the optical system 300 may be calibrated to scan the second region 3604b including the linear barcode at 600
  • the optical system 300 may be calibrated to scan at least a region of the printed image by adjusting the resolution settings of the optical system 300.
  • the optical system 300 may scan the first region 3602b based on the default resolution settings.
  • the default resolution settings of the optical system 300 may be adjusted based on combining outputs of a set of sensors from amongst the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300. Details of combining outputs of the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 are described after the description of the steps of method 3700.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may select a respective aperture size at which the optical system 300 scans different regions of the printed image based on the resolution settings associated with different regions identified in the image. For example, a first aperture size of the optical system 300 may be selected based on the default resolution settings described at step 3706, and a second aperture size may be selected based on the adjusted resolution settings described at step 3708.
  • a reference table referred may be utilized by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to select effective aperture sizes applicable for corresponding resolution.
  • the reference table referred herein may include multiple effective aperture sizes and multiple resolutions corresponding to the respective aperture sizes.
  • the reference table 3400 illustrated in FIG. 34 may be utilized by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 to select the effective aperture size.
  • the effective aperture size referred herein corresponds to an aperture size at which the optical system 300 is to be configured for scanning a region of the image. To this extent, the effective aperture size may also be computed based on an interpolation of the physical aperture size as described in FIG. 35 .
  • the different effective aperture sizes and different resolutions applicable for each of the respective aperture size in the reference table can be computed based on techniques described in reference to FIGS. 17-22 , i.e. based on creating a reference graph and utilizing the reference graph to interpolate effective aperture sizes of the optical system 300.
  • the optical system 300 may scan a printed image in a row by row fashion, i.e. at an instance of time.
  • the optical system 300 scans one row of the printed image.
  • the optical system 300 upon scanning one row, the optical system 300 generates a scan result, including pixel values for one row in the printed image. These pixel values represent reflectance sensed by each of respective optical sensors in a linear array of the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may identify a region such as the first region 3602b, the second region 3604b, or the third region 3606b, to which the respective row belongs.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may configure the optical system 300 to scan the row based on adjusting the resolution settings.
  • outputs of adjacently positioned optical sensors from amongst the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 may be combined. For instance, to achieve a resolution lower than a default resolution of the optical system 300, outputs of every "n" adjacently positioned optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 may be combined, where n is an integer equal to 2 or more. In this aspect, a number "n" of the optical sensors 302 for which combining the outputs is performed depends on a desired resolution settings.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may combine outputs of four optical sensors, for example, pixels 1 and 2, 3 and 4 corresponding to adjacently positioned 4 optical sensors for a same scan line. In this way, in accordance with various example embodiments described herein, outputs of sensors for one row may be combined depending on a desired resolution to be achieved.
  • the optical system 300 may acquire another row of sensor data at the constant print speed, and may combine respective output with outputs for the first row to achieve a lower resolution.
  • outputs of a set of optical sensors can be combined.
  • outputs of optical sensors positioned in a 2 x 2 matrix array of the optical sensors 302 may be combined.
  • a same number of sensor values (or pixels) need to be added together on both the x and y directions.
  • Combining outputs of the adjacently positioned optical sensors in row (x direction) reduces by half the default resolution settings across a width of the printed image and by half the amount of data that needs to be image processed.
  • combining outputs of adjacently positioned optical sensors in column (y direction) reduces by half the default resolution setting across a length of the printed image.
  • outputs of sensors in a 2 x 2 block of the optical sensors may be merged to reduce the resolution by half in all directions (for instance, from a 1200 dpi default resolution to create a new 600 dpi resolution portion of the image that may be scanned by the optical system 300).
  • binning every two pixel sensor values either in the sensor or in computer memory, creates the equivalent image to scanning with a different image sensor that is manufactured to be 600 dpi as its native default resolution.
  • the optical system 300 may scan the third region 3606b at default resolution settings of the optical system (for instance, 1200 dpi) and based on a smaller aperture size of the optical system 300 (such as 3 mils).
  • outputs of the optical sensors 302 ofthe optical system 300 maybe combined by any of the printing subsystem 401 or the optical system 300.
  • outputs of sensors positioned in a 4 x 4 fashion matrix in an array of the optical sensors 302 i.e.
  • an effective 300 dpi image resolution setting at which the optical system 300 scans the first region 3602b of the printed image 3600b.
  • outputs of sensors positioned in a 2 x 2 fashion may be combined to achieve a 600 dpi resolution setting.
  • an effective aperture size ofthe optical system 300 at 300 dpi resolution settings may be determined by the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 using the reference table 3400.
  • combining the outputs of the optical sensors 302 to achieve a lower resolution setting is advantageous and provides technical improvements as it results in an approximately 90% reduction on required memory usage of the printing subsystem 401 and/or the optical system 300, as well as a decrease of image processing speed for typical label formats such as is depicted in Fig, 36A .
  • a printer's memory such as the memory 406 of the printing subsystem 401
  • a low resolution image of the entire label including the printed image 3600b may be created, thereby saving the memory which would have been otherwise occupied for storing the outputs corresponding to higher resolution regions of the image.
  • combining the sensor outputs and storing reduced sensor data in the memory also has advantage of performing a printer maintenance analysis over a single resolution image without the high resolution "blocks" being removed from the memory. In all cases, whenever at least a second region of a label image comprises a reduced resolution, increased printing and or verification speeds result.
  • combination of sensor outputs may be performed based on mathematically computing a desired resolution settings for the respective region.
  • 800dpi pix 1 represents a value of pixel 1 in a scanned image (having pixels 1, 2, 3, 4.... n) that can be computed from a value of "1200 dpi pix 1" and "1200 dpi pix 2" ( i.e .
  • 800 dpi pix n Average 2 / 3 n 1200 dpi , 1 / 3 pix n + 1 1200 dpi
  • 800 dpi pix n Average 2 / 3 n + 1 1200 dpi , 1 / 3 ix n 1200 dpi
  • 800 pix n represents a nth pixel value in the scanned image at 800 dpi resolution
  • pix (n) represents nth pixel value scanned at 1200 dpi resolution
  • pix (n+1) 1200 dpi represents value of (n+1)th pixel scanned at 1200 dpi resolution by the optical system 300.
  • the processing circuitry 304 and/or the processing circuitry 402 may combine partial output values of the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300.
  • the above described combination of output values of optical sensors may be performed by the processing circuitry 304 of the optical system 300 itself ( i.e. a verifier device may perform the adjustment of resolution settings).
  • One of the technical advantages of aforementioned approach is that a printing speed at which the printing subsystem 401 prints images on the print media remains unaffected, and printer's memory consumption is optimized, as the verifier auto-selects an applicable resolution setting and a corresponding effective aperture size based on performing the steps 3502-3506 and/or the steps 3702-3710 described in FIGS. 35 and 37 respectively.
  • outputs from each optical sensor of the optical sensors 302 of the optical system 300 may be transmitted to the printing subsystem 401 and stored in the memory 406.
  • the processing circuitry 402 of the printing subsystem 401 may access individual sensor outputs, i.e. pixel values from the memory 406, and perform desired combinations to achieve a desired resolution for any given region of the printed image.
  • One of the technical advantages of the aforementioned approach is that a printing speed of the printing subsystem 401 is always in sync with a verification speed of the optical system 300 and that the overall throughput of the system is maximized.
  • certain ones of the operations herein may be modified or further amplified as described above. Moreover, in some embodiments additional optional operations may also be included. It should be appreciated that each of the modifications, optional additions or amplifications described herein may be included with the operations herein either alone or in combination with any others among the features described herein.

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Claims (15)

  1. System zum Berechnen und Kalibrieren einer effektiven Blendengröße eines optischen Sensors (1604), wobei das System umfasst:
    dass der optische Sensor (1604) konfiguriert ist zum Scannen eines Testmusters (1402), um ein Scan-Reflexionsprofil, SRP, zu erzeugen, wobei das Testmuster (1402) mindestens ein Testelement (1404) umfasst, das ein Strich, der schmaler als schmale Striche des Testmusters ist, oder ein Zwischenraum ist, der schmaler als schmale Zwischenräume des Testmusters ist;
    einen Prozessor (1602) in elektronischer Kommunikation mit dem optischen Sensor (1604), wobei der Prozessor (1602) konfiguriert ist zum:
    Berechnen eines Elementreflexionswerts basierend auf einem Vergleich zwischen einem Abschnitt des SRP (1702), der dem mindestens einen Testelement (1404) zugeordnet ist, und Abschnitten des SRP (1702), die den anderen Elementen im Testmuster zugeordnet sind, wobei der Elementreflexionswert in Bezug auf das mindestens eine Testelement (1404) des Testmusters (1402) berechnet wird;
    Empfangen eines Referenzgraphen (1802), der dem Testmuster (1402) zugeordnet ist, wobei der Referenzgraph (1802) eine Kurve (1804) aufweist, die Elementreflexionswerte mit der Blendengröße für eine Mehrzahl von Referenz-SRPs korreliert, die von einer Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren erzeugt wird, die das Testmuster (1402) scannen, wobei die Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren eine Mehrzahl von bekannten Blendengrößen aufweist; und
    Berechnen der effektiven Blendengröße des optischen Sensors (1604) mindestens basierend auf dem Interpolieren des berechneten Elementreflexionswerts auf dem Referenzgraphen (1802).
  2. System nach Anspruch 1, wobei der Prozessor (1602) ferner konfiguriert ist zum Erzeugen des Referenzgraphen (1802) unter Verwendung der Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren bekannter optischer Systeme, um das Testmuster (1402) zu scannen, um für jedes der bekannten optischen Systeme ein Referenz-SRP zu erhalten, wobei jedes optische System der bekannten optischen Systeme eine Blendengröße aufweist, die sich von jeweiligen Blendengrößen der verbleibenden optischen Systeme von den bekannten optischen Systemen unterscheidet, wobei der Referenzgraph (1802) ferner eine Mehrzahl von Referenzelement-Reflexionswerten (1803) von der Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren angibt, wobei die Mehrzahl von Referenzelement-Reflexionswerten (1803) in Bezug auf das mindestens eine Testelement (1404) des Testmusters (1402) berechnet wird.
  3. System nach Anspruch 1 oder Anspruch 2, wobei das System ferner einen Drucker umfasst, wobei der optische Sensor (1604) und der Prozessor (1602) integrierte Teile des Druckers sind, wobei der Drucker konfiguriert ist zum:
    Drucken eines ersten Testmusters, das Striche und Zwischenräume definierter Spezifikationen umfasst;
    Scannen des ersten Testmusters;
    Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters, um das gescannte erste Testmuster gemäß einem vordefinierten Akzeptanzkriterium zu validieren;
    Aufzeichnen von Wärmemanagementeinstellungen des Druckers basierend auf der Validierung des gescannten ersten Testmusters;
    Drucken eines zweiten Testmusters mit den aufgezeichneten Wärmemanagementeinstellungen; und
    Kalibrieren des optischen Sensors (1604) unter Verwendung der effektiven Blendengröße des optischen Sensors (1604), die basierend auf dem Analysieren des zweiten Testmusters bestimmt wird.
  4. System nach Anspruch 3, wobei die definierten Spezifikationen der Striche und Zwischenräume schmale Elemente und breite Elemente umfassen, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Erzeugen eines SRP des ersten Testmusters;
    Messen einer Mittenposition eines schmalen Elements, die einen mittleren Reflexionswert der schmalen Elemente im SRP angibt;
    Messen einer Mittenposition eines breiten Elements, die einen mittleren Reflexionswert der breiten Elemente im SRP angibt;
    Vergleichen der Mittenposition des schmalen Elements mit der Mittenposition des breiten Elements; und
    als Reaktion auf das Bestimmen, dass die Mittenposition des schmalen Elements gleich der Mittenposition des breiten Elements ist, Validieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters.
  5. System nach Anspruch 3, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Bestimmen einer ersten Breite von mindestens einem Zwischenraum im ersten Testmuster;
    Bestimmen einer zweiten Breite von mindestens einem Strich im ersten Testmuster; und
    Vergleichen der ersten Breite mit der zweiten Breite, um das erste Testmuster gemäß dem vordefinierten Akzeptanzkriterium zu validieren.
  6. System nach Anspruch 3, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Berechnen eines Schwellenwerts, der einen mittleren SRP-Wert in einem SRP des ersten Testmusters angibt;
    Identifizieren eines ersten Satzes von Pixeln, der mindestens einem Zwischenraum im ersten Testmuster entspricht, wo ein erster entsprechender SRP-Wert kleiner als der Schwellenwert ist;
    Identifizieren eines zweiten Satzes von Pixeln, der mindestens einem Strich im ersten Testmuster entspricht, wo ein zweiter entsprechender SRP-Wert größer als der Schwellenwert ist; und
    Vergleichen einer ersten Zählung des ersten Satzes von Pixeln und einer zweiten Zählung des zweiten Satzes von Pixeln, um das erste Testmuster zu validieren.
  7. System nach einem der Ansprüche 1-6, wobei der Prozessor (1602) ferner konfiguriert ist zum:
    Empfangen einer Referenztabelle (3400), die eine Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen des optischen Sensors (1604) und eine Mehrzahl von entsprechenden Auflösungen der Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen angibt;
    Empfangen von charakteristischen Daten mindestens eines Zeichens eines Bildes, das auf ein Druckmedium gedruckt werden soll, wobei die Charakteristikdaten mindestens eine Größe des mindestens einen Zeichens umfassen; und
    Bestimmen einer anwendbaren Blendengröße des optischen Sensors (1604) basierend auf der Referenztabelle (3400) und den Charakteristikdaten.
  8. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren zum Berechnen und Kalibrieren einer effektiven Blendengröße eines optischen Systems (1604), wobei das computerimplementierte Verfahren umfasst:
    Erzeugen (2202) eines Scan-Reflexionsprofils, SRP, (1702) durch Scannen eines Testmusters (1402) unter Verwendung des optischen Systems (1604), wobei das Testmuster (1402) mindestens ein Testelement (1404) umfasst, das ein Strich, der schmaler als schmale Striche des Testmusters ist, oder ein Zwischenraum ist, der schmaler als schmale Zwischenräume des Testmusters ist;
    Berechnen (2204) eines Elementreflexionswerts basierend auf einem Vergleich zwischen einem Abschnitt des SRP (1702), der dem mindestens einen Testelement (1404) zugeordnet ist, und Abschnitten des SRP (1702), die den anderen Elementen im Testmuster zugeordnet sind, wobei der Elementreflexionswert in Bezug auf das mindestens eine Testelement (1404) des Testmusters (1402) berechnet wird;
    Empfangen (2206) eines Referenzgraphen (1802), der dem Testmuster (1402) zugeordnet ist, wobei der Referenzgraph (1802) eine Kurve (1804) aufweist, die Elementreflexionswerte mit der Blendengröße für eine Mehrzahl von Referenz-SRPs korreliert, die von einer Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren erzeugt wird, die das Testmuster (1402) scannen, wobei die Mehrzahl von optischen Referenzsensoren eine Mehrzahl von bekannten Blendengrößen aufweist; und
    Berechnen (2208) der effektiven Blendengröße des optischen Sensors (1604) mindestens basierend auf dem Interpolieren des berechneten Elementreflexionswerts auf dem Referenzgraphen (1802).
  9. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach Anspruch 8, wobei das optische System (1604) ein integrierter Teil eines Druckers ist, wobei das computerimplementierte Verfahren ferner umfasst:
    Drucken (2302) eines ersten Testmusters, das Striche und Zwischenräume definierter Spezifikationen umfasst;
    Scannen (2304) des ersten Testmusters;
    Analysieren (2306) des gescannten ersten Testmusters, um das gescannte erste Testmuster gemäß einem vordefinierten Akzeptanzkriterium zu validieren;
    Aufzeichnen (2308) von Wärmemanagementeinstellungen des Druckers basierend auf der Validierung des gescannten ersten Testmusters;
    Drucken (2310) eines zweiten Testmusters mit den aufgezeichneten Wärmemanagementeinstellungen; und
    Kalibrieren (2312) des optischen Systems (1604) unter Verwendung der effektiven Blendengröße des optischen Systems (1604), die basierend auf dem Analysieren des zweiten Testmusters bestimmt wird.
  10. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, wobei die definierten Spezifikationen der Striche und Zwischenräume schmale Elemente und breite Elemente umfassen, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Erzeugen (2706) eines SRP des ersten Testmusters;
    Messen (2708) einer Mittenposition eines schmalen Elements, die einen mittleren Reflexionswert der schmalen Elemente im SRP angibt;
    Messen (2710) einer Mittenposition eines breiten Elements, die einen mittleren Reflexionswert der breiten Elemente im SRP angibt;
    Vergleichen (2712) der Mittenposition des schmalen Elements mit der Mittenposition des breiten Elements; und
    als Reaktion auf das Bestimmen, dass die Mittenposition des schmalen Elements gleich der Mittenposition des breiten Elements ist, Validieren (2714) des gescannten ersten Testmusters.
  11. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Bestimmen (2906) einer ersten Breite von mindestens einem Zwischenraum im ersten Testmuster;
    Bestimmen (2908) einer zweiten Breite von mindestens einem Strich im ersten Testmuster; und
    Vergleichen (2910) der ersten Breite mit der zweiten Breite, um das erste Testmuster gemäß dem vordefinierten Akzeptanzkriterium zu validieren.
  12. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, wobei das Analysieren des gescannten ersten Testmusters ferner umfasst:
    Berechnen (3004) eines Schwellenwerts, der einen mittleren SRP-Wert in einem SRP des ersten Testmusters angibt;
    Identifizieren (3006) eines ersten Satzes von Pixeln, der mindestens einem Zwischenraum im ersten Testmuster entspricht, wo ein erster entsprechender SRP-Wert kleiner als der Schwellenwert ist;
    Identifizieren (3008) eines zweiten Satzes von Pixeln, der mindestens einem Zwischenraum im ersten Testmuster entspricht, wo ein zweiter entsprechender SRP-Wert größer als der Schwellenwert ist; und
    Vergleichen (3010) einer ersten Zählung des ersten Satzes von Pixeln und einer zweiten Zählung des zweiten Satzes von Pixeln, um das erste Testmuster zu validieren.
  13. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 8-12, ferner umfassend:
    Empfangen (3302) einer Referenztabelle (3400), die eine Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen des optischen Systems (1604) und eine Mehrzahl von entsprechenden Auflösungen der Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen angibt;
    Empfangen (3304) von charakteristischen Daten mindestens eines Zeichens eines Bildes, das auf ein Druckmedium gedruckt werden soll, wobei die Charakteristikdaten mindestens eine Größe des mindestens einen Zeichens umfassen; und
    Bestimmen (3306) einer anwendbaren Blendengröße des optischen Systems (1604) basierend auf der Referenztabelle (3400) und den Charakteristikdaten.
  14. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 8-13, ferner umfassend:
    Empfangen (3502) von Charakteristikdaten mindestens eines Zeichens eines Bildes, das auf ein Druckmedium gedruckt werden soll;
    Identifizieren (3504) eines ersten Bereichs und eines zweiten Bereichs des Bilds basierend auf den Charakteristikdaten; und
    Scannen des ersten Bereichs in einem gedruckten Bild mit einer ersten Auflösung und des zweiten Bereichs im gedruckten Bild mit einer zweiten Auflösung, die sich von der ersten Auflösung unterscheidet.
  15. Computerimplementiertes Verfahren nach Anspruch 14, ferner umfassend:
    Auswählen (3506) einer ersten effektiven Blendengröße und einer zweiten effektiven Blendengröße zum Scannen des ersten Bereichs und des zweiten Bereichs des Bilds basierend auf einer Referenztabelle (3400), wobei die Referenztabelle (3400) eine Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen umfasst, und eine Mehrzahl von Auflösungen entsprechend der Mehrzahl von Blendengrößen.
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US10803264B2 (en) 2020-10-13
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US20230267287A1 (en) 2023-08-24
US20220067316A1 (en) 2022-03-03
US11893449B2 (en) 2024-02-06
US20200401774A1 (en) 2020-12-24
EP4221177A1 (de) 2023-08-02
US20190213369A1 (en) 2019-07-11

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